Pluto

New models suggest that Pluto and Charon were formed by a giant collision. This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left) was taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system in 2015. Pluto and Charon are shown at approximately their relative sizes, but their true separation is not at the correct distance. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

How Pluto and its moon Charon were formed from a giant collision

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New research reveals that Pluto and its large moon Charon formed from a unique "kiss and capture" process following a giant collision, with significant implications for understanding the solar system.
In a paper published in the journal Icarus, Alex Nguyen, a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis, used mathematical models and images from the New Horizons spacecraft to take a closer look at the ocean that he says likely covers Pluto beneath a thick layer of nitrogen, methane and water ice. (Image: NASA)

Surprise: an ocean of liquid water on Pluto

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They estimate that Pluto's ocean is, at most, about 8% denser than seawater on Earth, or about the same as the Great Salt Lake in Utah (but much less salty than the Dead Sea.
Charon, Pluto's largest moon. Credit: Courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SwRI

Scientists have identified a possible source of the red dome on Charon, Pluto's largest moon

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In addition to all the fascinating landforms discovered on Pluto's surface, Haif discovered an unusual shape on Charon, a surprising red dome centered on its north pole. Scientists conducted an experiment that simulated the processes in the atmosphere
An area near sunset on the dwarf planet Pluto. Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Winds and an underground ocean - additional findings from Pluto

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Photo of Pluto from New Horizons in which Pluto's atmosphere can be seen. Source: NASA.

Pluto - additional findings

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Charon belt (in light blue). Courtesy of NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

New research sheds light on the formation of the tectonic belt around Pluto's moon Charon

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A diagram showing all the round bodies in the solar system with a diameter of less than 10,000 km. If the researchers' proposal is accepted, at least 110 bodies in the solar system will be defined as planets. Source: Montage by Emily Lakdawalla. Data from NASA / JPL, JHUAPL/SwRI , SSI, and UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA, processed by Gordan Ugarkovic, Ted Stryk, Bjorn Jonsson, Roman Tkachenko, and Emily Lakdawalla.

Why does a group of researchers want to reopen the debate on the definition of planets?

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Pluto in a photograph with artificial color designed to highlight differences in its surface, taken by New Horizons on July 14, 2015. Source: NASA.

Pluto - summary of findings, part four

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Pluto's north pole. Source: NASA.

Pluto - summary of findings, part three

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Pluto's majestic mountains, icy plains and misty haze as photographed just 15 minutes after New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. Photo: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI

Pluto - summary of findings, part two

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Pluto in a photograph with artificial color designed to highlight differences in its surface, taken by New Horizons on July 14, 2015. Source: NASA.

Pluto - summary of findings, first part

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A crater scarred by meteorite impacts that allow a glimpse of what's going on under the ground. Photo: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft

NASA has released spectacular close-up photos of Pluto

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To the right, east of Sputnik, the plain is cut by what appear to be glaciers, the sunlight illuminating the area from behind highlights over a dozen layers of haze in the thin but inflated atmosphere. The photo was taken from a distance of about 18 thousand kilometers and the width of the photographed area is 1,250 kilometers. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Pluto continues to surprise and show similarities to Earth

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In the center of the image, to the left of Pluto's huge route that resembles a heart shape, lies the Tombo area (named after Pluto's discoverer). It is a vast craterless plain that appears to be at most a hundred million years old and may still be shaped by geological processes. This icy region north of Pluto's ice mountains has been named the Sputnik Plain in honor of the first artificial satellite. The surface appears divided into irregular shaped segments surrounded by narrow rings. In addition, there are groups of mounds and fields of small pits in this area. This image was taken by the LORRI camera on July 14 from a distance of 77,000 kilometers. Details smaller than a kilometer can be seen. Some of my areas look raw due to the image compression. Photo: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI

New Horizons photographed the icy plains inside Pluto's "heart"

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A mountain in a depression on Charon, Pluto's large moon. Photo: NASA-JHUAPL-SwR

Another New Horizons surprise from the Pluto system: a mountain surrounded by a canal in Charon

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High mountains near Pluto's equator as captured by the New Horizons spacecraft cameras. Photo: NASA SwRI

Surprising discovery: New Horizons photographed young mountains on Pluto and Charon

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The dwarf planet Pluto (on the left) and its moons as a coffin in artificial colors that emphasize the differences in the route of the terrain and the composition of the materials on their surfaces. Photographed in three color filters by the Ralph instrument aboard the New Horizons spacecraft, July 13, 2015.

Images of Pluto and Charon taken by New Horizons in artificial colors highlight the enormous variety of terrain trajectory on these two worlds

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Prof. Nitzan Zohar. Photo: Technion

Technion researchers have proposed a model for finding new moons for Pluto, awaiting New Horizons photographs

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The brave new worlds Pluto and Charon are in the focus of the field of view of the LORRI camera on the New Horizons spacecraft. Photo: NASA TV

New Horizons revealed: Pluto's diameter is 2,370 km

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Did they come from one source? The surface of Pluto and in the background its large moon, Charon. Image: NASA

Pluto - a point of light in the darkness

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Discoverer of Pluto, the girl who gave him his name and the actor Leonard Nimoy will be commemorated on Pluto and Charon

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Interesting hints of Pluto's geology are revealed in this image taken by the New Horizons spacecraft on July 9, 2015 from a distance of 5.4 million kilometers from here. This annotated version of the image shows a large dark formation known as "The Whale" located on Pluto's equator, with a narrow band and elaborate polygons. In the lower part of the image is a photograph of Pluto, in which the area covered by the camera is highlighted, with the equator and the main longitude marked in bold. Photo: NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI

A whale on Pluto

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This visualization shows the chaotic whirl of the holiday moon Nix around Pluto. The series of computer simulations shows how the direction of the moon changes according to the unpredictable complex dynamic rules as it orbits the double planet - Pluto-Charon.

Pluto's small moons Nix and Hydra swirl chaotically around themselves

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Artist rendering of a trans-Neptunian object. The distant sun was reduced to a bright star 5 billion kilometers away. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has now announced the discovery of several such objects, most likely dwarf planets like Pluto. Image: NASA

Look for dark energy and find more dwarf planets beyond Neptune-Rahab

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An artist's illustration shows Pluto and several of its moons as seen from the surface of one of the moons. Pluto is the large disc in the center. Charon is the smallest disk on the right. Figure: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)

Preparing for New Horizons' arrival at Pluto: Searching for evidence of a subsurface ocean on moon Charon; Hubble will look for other worlds beyond Pluto

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Pluto's fifth moon has been discovered

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This montage of two images shows Pluto's four moons in motion

Hubble discovered a new moon for Pluto, fourth in number

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20 Future NASA Missions

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The current map of Pluto is correct for 2010. Photo: NASA

Pluto and its moons

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Hidden passengers have been discovered on the spacecraft New Horinos

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Geysers on Pluto's large moon

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The dwarf planet Eris is more massive than Pluto, according to a new study published by Eris Explorer

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Prof. Zvi MZA/The struggle for Pluto as a planet

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New solar system(?)

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The strict ones won - Pluto loses its status as a planet and becomes a 'dwarf planet'

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Nix and Hydra - the names of the two new moons of Pluto

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Pluto's status as a planet will soon be decided

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Project 365 – 76 years to the discovery of Pluto

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Project 365 – Poseidon crater and M38 cluster

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

New Horizons launched today

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The year: 2015. The place: Pluto. The fog dissipates

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Charon, a moon of Pluto with a radius of about 600 km has no atmosphere. And probably not a spherical shape either

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Hubble has apparently detected two new moons for Pluto

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Tonight (Tuesday at 20:24) the New Horizon spacecraft will be launched to Pluto. Protests against nuclear fuel

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The unmanned shuttle, "New Horizons", will be launched in 2006 and will be the first to reach Pluto

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The surprising discovery: Pluto is heating up

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Predictions in the shadow of Pluto

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Global warming - also in Pluto?

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