OUTERPLANETS

845 articles

Possible Clouds on Pluto, Next Target is Reddish
Oct 19, 2016 (JPL)
The next target for NASA's New Horizons mission - which made a historic flight past Pluto in July 2015 - apparently bears a colorful resemblance to its famous, ...
Shedding light on Pluto's glaciers
Sep 21, 2016 (SPX)
What is the origin of the large heart-shaped nitrogen glacier revealed in 2015 on Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft? Two researchers from the Laboratoire de ...
Chandra detects low-energy X-rays from Pluto
Sep 14, 2016 (UPI)
Pluto is cold and rocky. It hosts no known X-ray-emitting mechanisms. Yet, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected low-energy X-rays coming from Pluto. "W...
Scientists discover what extraordinary compounds may be hidden inside Jupiter and Neptune
Sep 07, 2016 (SPX)
Using computer modeling, chemists from MIPT and Skoltech (the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology) have found out which molecules may be present in the...
New Horizons Spies a Kuiper Belt Companion
Sep 01, 2016 (SPX)
NASA's New Horizons is doing some sightseeing along the way, as the spacecraft speeds toward a New Year's Day 2019 date with an ancient object in the distant re...
Pluto's Methane Snowcaps on the Edge of Darkness
Sep 01, 2016 (SPX)
The southernmost part of Pluto that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft could "see" during closest approach in July 2015 contains a range of fascinating geological f...
Hunt For Ninth Planet Reveals New Extremely Distant Solar System Objects
Aug 31, 2016 (SPX)
In the race to discover a proposed ninth planet in our solar system, Carnegie's Scott Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo of Northern Arizona University have observe...
Pluto Flyby - A Year Later
Aug 05, 2016 (SPX)
About a year ago the New horizons spacecraft, funded by NASA and built by the Applied Physics Lab of Johns Hopkins University, completed its 9 0.5-year flight f...
Scientists attempt to explain Neptune atmosphere's wobble
Jul 22, 2016 (UPI)
Astronomers have been monitoring the oscillating brightness of Neptune's atmosphere for the last 40 years. Using the data, a new study in the journal Nature Com...
New Distant Dwarf Planet Beyond Neptune
Jul 14, 2016 (SPX)
An international team of astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet orbiting in the disk of small icy worlds beyond Neptune. The new object is roughly 700 k...
Researchers discover distant dwarf planet beyond Neptune
Jul 11, 2016 (UPI)
A new dwarf planet has been discovered orbiting among the icy ring of debris beyond Neptune. The object was named 2015 RR245 by the International Astronomical U...
New Horizons Receives Mission Extension to the Kuiper Belt
Jul 06, 2016 (SPX)
Following its historic first-ever flyby of Pluto, NASA's New Horizons mission has received the green light to fly onward to an object deeper in the Kuiper Belt,...
Alex Parker Discovers Moon Over Makemake in the Kuiper Belt
Jul 01, 2016 (SPX)
A Southwest Research Institute-led team has discovered an elusive, dark moon orbiting Makemake, one of the "big four" dwarf planets populating the Kuiper Belt r...
Pluto's Subsurface Ocean Likely Exists Today
Jun 24, 2016 (SPX)
Ongoing geological activity on Pluto seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft could be caused by the partial freezing of a subsurface ocean that likely still exis...
Case Bolstered for a Present-Day Subsurface Ocean on Pluto
Jun 23, 2016 (SPX)
When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft buzzed by Pluto last year, it revealed tantalizing clues that the dwarf planet might have - or had at one time - a liquid oc...
Hubble locates new dark spot on Neptune
Jun 23, 2016 (UPI)
There's a new dark spot on Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun. Astronomers recently confirmed the presence of a dark vortex spinning across the planet's ...
New evidence suggests Pluto likely features subsurface ocean
Jun 21, 2016 (UPI)
Previous studies have revealed the possibility of a subsurface ocean on Pluto -- if not currently, then at least at some point during its planetary history. Res...
Extreme trans-Neptunian objects lead the way to Planet Nine
Jun 15, 2016 (SPX)
In the race towards the discovery of a ninth planet in our solar system, scientists from around the world strive to calculate its orbit using the tracks left by...
The Jagged Shores of Pluto's Highlands
Jun 10, 2016 (SPX)
This enhanced color view from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft zooms in on the southeastern portion of Pluto's great ice plains, where at lower right the plains b...
Secrets Revealed from Pluto's Twilight Zone
Jun 07, 2016 (SPX)
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took this stunning image of Pluto only a few minutes after closest approach on July 14, 2015. The image was obtained at a high ph...
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