With NASA's New Horizons probe zeroing in on Pluto, due to pass it on July 14, attention of astronomers all over the world is focusing in on Pluto. Let's leave aside the question of whetherPlutois the smallest planet in the solar system or the largest of the Kuiper Belt Objects, and ...
If NASA receives strong enough funding to pursue a second flagship mission before the next decadal survey is released in 2032, the committee recommended that mission be the so-calledEnceladus Orbilander, a perhaps $5 billion spacecraft that would orbit and land on Saturn's small icy moon. This...
Did Pluto come from an Oort cloud? How did Jan Oort discover the Oort cloud? Do comets come from the asteroid belt? What space probes have headed to the Oort cloud? What is the edge of the Oort cloud next to? Is there water in the Oort cloud? Why was Sedna originally thought ...
Cold and Alone on Pluto A dwarf planet stuck at the fringes of the solar system, Pluto is about 3.7 billion miles from the sun. It must get very lonely. And also very, very cold. Average temperatures hover around -390 Fahrenheit, only one degree warmer than Neptune's ...
Comet Lovejoy is about magnitude 4.5, high in the evening sky for your binoculars or telescope. But you'll be looking through moonlight until February 5th or 6th. Read below to learn where to see Comet Lovejoy tonight! Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, hasfaded somewhat from its peak brightness...
Here are the planets in their order from the Sun, including dwarf planet, Pluto. (Note: This illustration is not to scale. The distances between the planets are much greater.) More About Each Planet For easy reference, we included each planet’s specific viewing date ranges, times, and dir...
The decriminalization of homosexuality, 100 years ago. Moves towards national self-determination. Free and universal education, the flourishing of adult schools. A change in the soul, as Lunacharsky might put it, as much as in the factory. And though these moments are snuffed out, reversed, ...
Every now and then, science asks us to unlearn a thing we had previously learned. Pluto isn’t a planet. Some dinosaurs were covered in feathers. And now, according to some newly published research, Neptune is less blue than we thought. Rather than that rich, royal blue color we usually...
“The Sky isfalling!The Sky is falling!!!” ~Chicken Little There’s Money In Fear Mongering If you spend any time on-line or watch certain news channels, by now you’ve heard the phrase, “Jade Helm.” You probably know it has something to do with a semi-clandestine military operatio...
wealthiest. Our fortune was like the Sun to everyone else’s Pluto. And although I didn’t want to involve her into my personal affairs, I needed help. If my sister was here I’d have her to listen to my concerns, but she wasn’t. So, in the end, I told my lover what happened...