Tag: Dwarf Planets
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Dawn mission managers await NASA decision on spacecraft’s future
Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft with one of its ion engines firing. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The future of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, running low on hydrazine fuel and now flying around the dwarf planet Ceres without the help of internal pointing wheels, will be decided in the coming weeks by top space agency managers. Scientists have…
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Looking for Planet 9 and other far-out objects? Finally, NASA has an app for that
An artist’s conception shows Planet X, a.k.a. Planet Nine. (Carnegie Institution / Robin Dienel) Citizen scientists can join an online hunt for icy worlds, brown dwarfs and other yet-to-be-discovered objects beyond the orbit of Neptune, using a technique that’s not all that different from the method that led to Pluto’s discovery 87 years ago. “Backyard Worlds:…
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Water, water everywhere on Ceres: Ice lies just below dwarf planet’s surface
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft determined the hydrogen content of the upper yard, or meter, of Ceres’ surface. Blue indicates where hydrogen content is higher, near the poles, while red indicates lower content at lower latitudes. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / PSI Photo) Readings from instruments aboard NASA’s Dawn orbiter…
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Astronomers say they’ve spotted a dwarf planet that’s farther out than Pluto
The golden ellipse indicates the orbit of the newly confirmed object 2015 RR245. Click on the image for a larger version. (Credit: Alex Parker / OSSOS Team) Astronomers have found an icy world that ranges far beyond the orbit of Neptune and may well rank as a dwarf planet alongside Pluto. The newly detected object, designated…
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Dwarf planet Ceres’ mysterious bright spot hints at upwelling of salty water
The center of Ceres’ mysterious Occator Crater is the brightest area on the dwarf planet. The inset perspective view shows new data on this feature: Red signifies a high abundance of carbonates, while gray indicates a low carbonate abundance. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / ASI / INAF)…
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New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see
Craters and linear features are scattered across Pluto’s terrain in this high-resolution view from NASA’s New Horizons probe. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Almost a year after NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, the team behind the mission has put together a long mosaic strip that includes all of the highest-resolution images. “This…
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Dwarfy McPlanetface? The icy world known as 2007 OR10 cries out for a name
An illustration lines up the solar system’s four largest dwarf planets, with 2007 OR10 in the middle of the pack. (Credit: Andras Pal / Konkoly Observatory, Ivan Eder / Hungarian Astronomical Association, NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Observations made by NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggest that the icy world known as 2007 OR10 is bigger than…
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Hubble Space Telescope spots a moon circling faraway dwarf planet Makemake
An artist’s conception shows the distant dwarf planet Makemake with its dark moon, MK 2, lurking to the right. (Credit: NASA / ESA / A. Parker / SwRI) Chalk up another moon for the dwarf planets: Astronomers have sifted through imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope to find a tiny satellite circling Makemake. Makemake (pronounced Mah-kay-mah-kay, like the Rapa…
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Dwarf planet Ceres’ mystery bright spots get their close-up from Dawn probe
The bright central spots near the center of Occator Crater are shown in enhanced color in this view from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Such views can be used to highlight subtle color differences on Ceres’ surface. The view combines high-resolution images of Occator from February with lower-resolution color data acquired in September 2015. (Credit: NASA /…
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Weird! New Horizons probe spots islands of water ice floating in nitrogen slush
This image focuses in on a part of Pluto’s heart-shaped region where hills of water ice appear to be floating on top of a nitrogen glacier. Challenger Colles, toward the top of the inset photo, is a wide cluster of water-ice hills. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) There’s plenty of evidence that Pluto is…