The dwarf planet Pluto is heading away from the Sun and that's having a devastating impact on its atmosphere.
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Articles on Pluto
Displaying 1 - 20 of 46 articles
There's a mysterious lack of small bodies beyond Neptune, but a 'snowman-shaped' object may help explain why.
Senegal has made great strides in astronomy and planetary sciences in recent years.
Pluto has a density between that of rock and ice – so that immediately suggests the dwarf planet is made of a mix of both. But how do we know?
Images from New Horizons spacecraft provide more evidence about the surface of Pluto.
A group of astronomers are trying to reclassify Pluto as full 'planet'. But there are good reasons to leave our classification system alone, and this doesn't mean Pluto is any less interesting.
Scientists first started disagreeing about whether the moon should be a planet in Galileo's day.
Astronomers are excited about sub-surface oceans in the solar system, as they may support life. Now Pluto joins the club.
Trapped gas could be tainting the north pole of Pluto's moon Charon dark red.
After last summer's Pluto flyby, the New Horizons spacecraft started sending data back to Earth – at 2 kilobits per second. Here's some of what scientists have learned so far from that rich, slow cache.
From a flyby of Pluto to the search for extrasolar planets and gravitational waves, 2015 was a monumental year for space news.
Prepare to be amazed ...
2015 was a year where we expanded our view of the universe, embraced new technologies and got a hint of the profound changes to come.
This week, NASA has discovered great similarities between the Earth and Mars and Pluto. But when it comes to the potential for life, Mars is an increasingly hot favourite.
Pluto's moon Charon seems to have had a violent past, with icy volcanoes leaving huge fractures.
From a mysterious haze to strange nitrogen snowfall, the latest pictures of Pluto pose many new questions.
New Year's resolutions are one thing. But what does it take to devote your life to a work goal with such a long time horizon you might never reach it in your lifetime?
Space scientists have a busy decade ahead with plans to visit Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and other interplanetary bodies all on the cards.
In the long lead-up to our ultimate flyby of Pluto, space science has reconfigured our notions of what it means to be a solar system, a planet, a world.
The existence of a "Planet X" in the outer solar system was the subject of great speculation, and was finally settled with the discovery of Pluto in 1930.
Top contributors
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Alice Gorman is a Friend of The Conversation.
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
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Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria
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Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW
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Research Fellow/Reader in Planetary Physics, Lancaster University
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Instrument Scientist, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
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Associate Professor and Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology
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Professor of Planetary Science and Astronomy, George Mason University
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Professor and Associate Dean (Research), UNSW
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Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University
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PhD Research Student, History & Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne
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Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney
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Professor; Astronomer-in-Charge, Anglo-Australian Observatory, Australian Astronomical Observatory
