pluto

For years, scientists have believed in the existence of a Planet X or Planet Nine beyond Pluto. Here is the truth. Until about the 18th century, we only knew about the existence of six planets in our solar system. Anything beyond Saturn was too far to be seen with the unaided eye or a basic telescope. Uranus was later discovered in 1781 and later in 1846 Neptune was also found. But there was one oddity in the discovery of Neptune. Unlike other planets, it wasn't discovered through observation. Rather, scientists…

Paramount Global will strengthen its free ad-supported streaming service, Pluto TV, with the addition of over 6,300 episodes from the CBS Vault. This move will triple the amount of CBS content on Pluto TV. By the end of 2022, former CBS shows such as Mork and Mindy, Touched by an Angel, and Taxi will be added to Pluto TV’s on-demand selections. Classic shows like Cheers, Star Trek: The Orginal Series, and Frasier will also be featured on the service’s lineup of channels. Other notable programs available on Pluto TV…

The image was taken with the Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam and is the first time Neptune has been seen in infrared.Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScIThe Webb Space Telescope has produced yet another view of a solar system planet, and you may not be able to guess the world from the image alone. The new portrait of Neptune shows its dramatic and often overlooked rings, and the European Space Agency says this is the clearest view of the planet since 1989.Neptune is so far away that it was only discovered in 1846, and when…

Today is the 45th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1, one of humanity’s iconic twin emissaries to the cosmos. (Its sibling, Voyager 2, launched a couple of weeks earlier.) Now in the dark, far reaches of interstellar space—more than 10 billion miles from home, where our sun looks like any other bright star—the pair are still doing science. They carry with them the Golden Records, bearing the sounds and symbols of Earth, should some extraterrestrial ever rendezvous with one of the spacecraft and become curious about…

Scientists combined data from NASA's New Horizons mission with novel laboratory experiments and exospheric modelling to reveal the likely composition of the red cap on Pluto's moon Charon and how it may have formed. This first-ever description of Charon's dynamic methane atmosphere using new experimental data provides a fascinating glimpse into the origins of this moon's red spot as described in two recent articles. "Prior to New Horizons, the best Hubble images of Pluto revealed only a fuzzy blob of reflected light,"…

Pluto's life partner, Charon, has a disarming red 'cap'. Ever since New Horizons snapped the moon's rust-tinted north pole on its 2015 flyby, scientists have pondered the planetary processes responsible for leaving such a bold landmark.  Scientists initially suspected the iron-colored smear (nicknamed Mordor Macula) was methane captured from Pluto's surface, its red color the result of a slow baking in the Sun's ultraviolet light. It was a neat idea just begging to be tested.Now a mix of modeling and laboratory…

What is it like to be on the surface of Mars or Venus? Or even further afield, such as on Pluto, or Saturn's moon Titan? This curiosity has driven advances in space exploration since Sputnik 1 was launched 65 years ago.But we're only beginning to scratch the surface of what is knowable about other planetary bodies in the Solar System.Our new study, published today in Nature Astronomy, shows how some unlikely candidates – namely sand dunes – can provide insight into what weather and conditions you might experience if you…

A batch of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that look unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been identified on Pluto using data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, showing that this remote frigid world is more dynamic than previously known.Scientists said on Tuesday that these cryovolcanoes — numbering perhaps 10 or more — stand anywhere from six-tenths of a mile (1 km) to 4-1/2 miles (7 km) tall. Unlike Earth volcanoes that spew gases and molten rock, this dwarf planet's cryovolcanoes…