Tag Archives: charon

 New Horizons: Exploring Pluto and Beyond

Hello (again), and welcome (back) to my Astronomy Blog! Today we’re picking up where we left off with Pluto and the New Horizons mission.  The New Horizons Mission Although NASA approved the mission in 2001, the New Horizons mission officially entered the public conscience when the craft was launched on January 19th, 2006. The speedy […] Continue reading

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An even grander Grand Canyon

Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon? Well take that image and toss it out because it’s not even close to the size of the canyon we’re talking about here! An inside scoop on this canyon is supported by the image above, found at Business Insider! The New Horizon’s mission has been one of the […] Continue reading

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Pluto

Picture Source- Forbes Pluto was discovered in 1930, and at the time was considered the ninth planet of our Solar System. With further exploration, scientists realized that Pluto is actually part of a larger set of worlds that are a part of the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was then reclassified into a  dwarf planet. Pluto is … Continue reading Pluto Continue reading

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New Horizons Probe Halfway Between Pluto and Its Next Target in Kuiper Belt

Just today, (April 4) the NASA probe New Horizons reached its halfway point between the Pluto system and its next target in the Kuiper belt, the small object 2014 MU69. 2014 MU69 is a trans-Plutonian, rather small Kuiper Belt object; with an average diameter of only about 30 miles it is only about 1% the size of […] Continue reading

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Charon: The Major Key to Pluto

Up until very recently, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of our solar system. That all changed when the definition of a planet was revised, and Pluto just became another Kuiper belt object albeit the most famous one. We know significantly more about Pluto than any other Kuiper belt object simply because it was discovered … Continue reading “Charon: The Major Key to Pluto” Continue reading

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Drawing Closer to Discovering the Mysteries of Pluto

Right now Pluto is a very mysterious planet. No man-made object has flown by it and so there is not a lot of information on its global geology or chemical composition on the surface. In 2 years however, New Horizons will finally reach the dwarf planet and retrieve valuable data that astronomers have seeked for […] Continue reading

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