Peering closely at the "heart of Pluto," in the western half of what mission scientists have informally named Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), New Horizons' Ralph instrument revealed evidence of carbon monoxide ice.
Space Exploration
Jul 20, 2015
1
18
Vast frozen plains exist next door to Pluto's big, rugged mountains sculpted of ice, scientists said Friday, three days after humanity's first-ever flyby of the dwarf planet.
Space Exploration
Jul 17, 2015
1
1327
Drifting along at what for decades was regarded as the outer boundary of our solar system, icy Pluto is far from alone. The dwarf planet has moons – at least five of them – which are all fascinating little worlds in their ...
Space Exploration
Jul 17, 2015
0
24
The New Horizons spacecraft did what it was meant to do. It explored the unexplored dwarf planet Pluto. So, now what?
Space Exploration
Jul 16, 2015
12
4596
This animation combines various observations of Pluto over the course of several decades. The first frame is a digital zoom-in on Pluto as it appeared upon its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 (image courtesy Lowell Observatory ...
Space Exploration
Jul 16, 2015
0
16
Pluto's surface has long been a blur to sky watchers on Earth, but a NASA spacecraft on Wednesday should provide the first high-resolution images of the distant dwarf planet after a historic flyby mission.
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2015
11
1074
If space is humankind's ultimate challenge, then the first step starts close to home – we have still to explore much of our solar system that spans across enormous distances, never mind those galaxies and stars more distant ...
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2015
0
26
Scientists are receiving data that will offer the closest look ever of Pluto later Wednesday, after the unmanned NASA spacecraft whizzed by the distant dwarf planet.
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2015
12
51
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reached its closest approach to Pluto on Tuesday, swooping to within 7,800 miles of the dwarf planet out beyond Neptune, snapping pictures and gathering data.
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2015
0
49
On Jan. 19, 2006, NASA launched a space probe the size of a golf cart on a mission to explore the farthest reaches of the solar system; its destination was the Kuiper Belt, a frigid region beyond the planets, populated with ...
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2015
0
17
