A spectacular sampling of imagery from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveals mountains and water ice bedrock on Pluto, an active crust on its largest moon Charon and the first resolved views of the icy world’s tiny mini-moons.
Scientists are crunching data for a 1900 GMT press conference Wednesday, and there is high anticipation for the release of the first close-up images from Tuesday’s historic flyby of Pluto.
A newly discovered planet orbiting a star known as HIP 11915 is the most accurate analogue yet found for the Sun and Jupiter. HIP 11915 is about the same age and composition as the Sun, suggesting that there may also be rocky Earth-like planets orbiting closer to the star.
A long-awaited radio signal from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft landed on planet Earth late Tuesday, confirming the faraway space probe performed as expected during a one-shot flyby of Pluto at the solar system’s outer frontier.
Pluto and its Texas-sized moon Charon share an alien environment on the solar system’s outer frontier, with patches of organic ices and diverse rock types illustrated in color imagery released Tuesday.
A speedy space probe barreled past Pluto for a one-shot flyby Tuesday, becoming the first spacecraft to ever visit the frozen, reddish world at the solar system’s distant frontier.
Take a look at a sneak peak of Pluto taken Monday at a range of 766,000 kilometre (476,000 miles), about 16 hours before New Horizons’ closest approach.
The true size of Pluto has been debated since its discovery over 85 years ago. New Horizons’ mission scientists can now answer that question with certainty, confirming that Pluto is larger than all other known Solar System objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.
There is no sign of an undiscovered moon lurking around Pluto in data streaming back to Earth from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, and that is surprising to Alan Stern, the scientist in charge of the probe.
The first hints of dramatic cliffs, chasms and craters are showing up in new imagery of Pluto and its Texas-sized moon Charon as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft prepares to bolt by the icy worlds Tuesday.