NASA’s New Horizons – Astronomy Now

IAU approves more names for features on Pluto

10 August 2019 Astronomy Now

The International Astronomical Union has approved a second set of names for features on the surface of Pluto.

Ultima Thule answers – and raises – questions about early solar system

19 March 2019 Astronomy Now

Data from the New Horizons flyby of the Kuiper Belt body Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day sheds new light on processes at work during the solar system’s birth.

New Horizons sends back best picture yet of Ultima Thule

25 January 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s New Horizons probe has beamed back the highest resolution view yet of Ultima Thule, the twin-lobe Kuiper Belt body it flew by on 1 January.

As New Horizons closes in on Ultima Thule, scientists propose a Pluto orbiter

25 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Three years outbound from Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is homing in on a Kuiper Belt object dubbed Ultima Thule for a dramatic New Year’s Day flyby, the first by any space probe in the extreme outer solar system.

Successful occultation observations for New Horizons (updated 4 August)

2 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Mission planners preparing for the New Horizons flyby of a Kuiper Belt object on 1 January will attempt to monitor starlight as it is blocked out by the probe’s target, Ultima Thule, to update critical navigation data. Updated 4 August

New Horizons wakes up for New Year’s Day flyby

5 June 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s New Horizons probe, three years outbound from Pluto, has woken from electronic hibernation, healthy and on course for a New Year’s Day flyby of an even more remote Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule.

Evidence found for ‘giant comet’ theory of Pluto’s origin

26 May 2018 William Harwood

Data collected by NASA’s New Horizons probe and ESA’s Rosetta mission suggest Pluto might have formed from the accretion of a billion or so smaller bodies similar to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and other Kuiper Belt objects.

Shedding light on Pluto’s glaciers

20 September 2016 Astronomy Now

What is the origin of the large heart-shaped nitrogen glacier on Pluto revealed by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015? Two French researchers show that Pluto’s peculiar insolation and atmosphere favour nitrogen condensation near the equator, in the lower altitude regions, leading to an accumulation of ice at the bottom of Sputnik Planum, a vast topographic basin.

Dwarf planet Haumea’s lunar system smaller than anticipated

17 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Haumea, a dwarf planet on the edge of our solar system, doesn’t have the same kind of moons as its well-known cousin Pluto according to a new study. This is despite original evidence that suggested they both formed in similar giant impacts and adds to the mystery shrouding how these icy bodies formed.

New Horizons finds possible ice volcanoes on Pluto

9 November 2015 Astronomy Now

From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, NASA’s New Horizons science team is discussing more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. The two cryovolcano candidates are large features measuring tens of miles across and several miles high.