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Home > News > Tags > dwarf planets
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Stories about: dwarf planets |
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Astronomers interested in discovering whether an ocean lies just underneath the crusty surface of Pluto have to wait for about 3 more years. The NASA New Horizons spacecraft is currently on its way to the dwarf planet, and it is scheduled to fly past the object in 2015.
This probe is the fastest ever built. Launche... |
22 November 2011
03:01 GMT |
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During an occultation event that occurred in November 2010, the dwarf planet Eris passed in front of a distant star. On standby, astronomers conducted a series of measurements of the object as this happened, and learned that this celestial body is Pluto's twin brother in terms of size.
Using a number of telesco... |
27 October 2011
03:32 GMT |
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Experts from the Lunar & Planetary Institute say that they may have discovered the remnants of long-destroyed world beneath the ices of Antarctica. The rocks they uncovered appear to have originated in a dwarf planet-sized object that no longer exists in the solar system.What this implies is that the space rock was d... |
6 September 2011
07:56 GMT |
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As astronomers count down the years until a NASA spacecraft makes its way to the Kuiper Belt, many experts are currently making predictions about what the probe will find once it flies past the orbit of Pluto. The object is the cause of a dispute that has been raging on for about 5 years now.
Members of the Inter... |
6 September 2011
03:52 GMT |
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About five years ago, astronomers demoted Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet, but the move – while still controversial – did not decrease researchers' interest in the small celestial body. When the NASA New Horizons space probe reaches it in 205, the spacecraft will change our view of the rocky wo... |
24 August 2011
10:12 GMT |
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Pluto was once a fully-fledged planet, considered by astronomers to be the ninth such object from the Sun. However, following a length and very divisive discussion in the international scientific community, the celestial body was demoted to a dwarf planet back in 2006. Since then, many experts have been arguing about... |
23 August 2011
09:21 GMT |
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The number of objects in our solar system just got bigger, with the recent detection of what may very well be three previously-unknown dwarf planets. The objects were discovered near the orbit of Pluto, which is itself classified as a dwarf planet. However, Pluto is not the only celestial body in this class in the Ku... |
4 August 2011
05:57 GMT |
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A short while ago, researchers figured out that the dwarf planet Haumea is in fact covered with crystalline ice. Its two moons are covered by the same material, and astronomers now believe that interplays between gravity and radioactivity may be to blame.
In a paper published in the April issue of the journal Astr... |
26 July 2011
02:29 GMT |
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Well underway to enter orbit around the largest asteroid in our solar system, the NASA Dawn space probe has just sent back a series of new images of the enormous rock. The levels of detail we now have on the object are higher than ever before. Dawn is currently expected to start orbiting its target on July 16, and to... |
8 July 2011
02:46 GMT |
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Scientists have recently determined that the atmosphere surrounding the dwarf planet Pluto is poisonous and toxic for humans. Apparently, it contains the dangerous gas carbon monoxide, the same that causes asphyxiation in humans who get trapped in fires.The investigation also managed to show that the space object... |
20 April 2011
08:36 GMT |
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According to officials at the American space agency, the New Horizons space probe is currently being prepared for yet another important milestone in tis mission, its flyby of the gas giant Uranus.The event will take place on March 2011, as the spacecraft heads towards Pluto at a speed of nearly 36,000 miles per hour ... |
17 December 2010
10:02 GMT |
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In January 2005, astronomers peering into the night sky made an impressive find, a new celestial body which its discoverer first called Xena. Over the years, the finding proved critical, as it led to the creation of the dwarf planet category, and the demotion of Pluto from full-blown planet. Earlier this month, it wa... |
28 October 2010
03:05 GMT |
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A team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope announce the discovery of a large cache of massive trans-Neptunian objects, space rocks that exist beyond the orbit of the gas giant. The 14 space rocks were found as scientists were peering through archival observations that the famous telescope made over the tw... |
14 September 2010
01:56 GMT |
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Astronomers announce that skywatchers and other interested individuals will be able to spot the massive asteroid Pallas this week. This is one of the largest such space rocks ever discovered, and at one point its discoverers were wondering as to whether it's a small planet, or a member of some other class of obj... |
6 May 2010
02:40 GMT |
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A group of experts using the Hubble space telescope has recently uncovered a few peculiarities on the surface of Pluto, one of the outermost planets in our solar system. Datasets recovered from the famous observatory revealed the existence of alternating bright and dark spots on the celestial body, and many experts w... |
30 April 2010
02:36 GMT |
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The way the International Astronomical Union (IAU) goes about defining planets is a topic that many are uncomfortable with. A large proportion of all astronomers in the organization do not agree with the definitions by which the IAU decided which space object is classified as a planet, and which as a dwarf planet. Th... |
12 April 2010
08:41 GMT |
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On February 25, the NASA New Horizons mission finally reached one of the major milestones of its flight – namely exceeding half the distance to its target, the dwarf planet Pluto. The spacecraft, which is one of the few being propelled by a cylindrical radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG, carries with... |
27 February 2010
03:17 GMT |
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First seen on March 19, 1915, the planet Pluto has been the subject of much debate even before it was discovered. While analyzing perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, astronomers hypothesized that another celestial body, dubbed Planet X, must be influencing the two. After Pluto was found, the tenth obje... |
18 February 2010
18:01 GMT |
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A part of the international astronomical community believes that the outer fringes of our solar system may contain planets the size of the Earth or Mars. While the idea previously seemed implausible, new data seem to point out that this belief may not be that far-fetched. Even if this turns out to be true, scientists... |
4 January 2010
16:21 GMT |
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The Kuiper Belt is a ring of space rocks surrounding the outskirts of the solar system, around the orbit of Pluto and beyond. The formation is similar to the inner asteroid belt, and is one of the major sources for the comets that pass through our solar system. The Belt contains a large number of significant objects,... |
6 November 2009
08:51 GMT |
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Since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) started changing the definitions of what planets, asteroids, and dwarf planets looked like, the faith of many large, cosmic objects in the solar system has remained undecided. One such example is the giant rock 2 Pallas, which is, in fact, a protoplanet – a Moon-... |
9 October 2009
06:36 GMT |
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Under the new International Astronomical Union (IAU) classification, Pluto and the other larger celestial bodies circling the Sun behind it are dwarf planets. Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake are all considered to be too small to fit the new planetary category. One of the most peculiar such objects is Haumea, a body... |
16 September 2009
02:51 GMT |
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The decision of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to declassify Pluto as a planet, and to move it to the lesser class of “dwarf planets” sparked widespread protests and disagreement in 2006. The move resulted from the fact that the new definition of the term “planet,” coined at the IA... |
27 July 2009
09:38 GMT |
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