Space Station Threshold

Eris, the largest dwarf planet beyond Neptune, is currently at its furthest point in its orbit from the Sun (an aphelion of nearly 100 AU). At this distance Eris doesn't receive very much sunlight and any heating of the Plutoid will be at a minimum. However, two recent observations of Eris have shown a rapid [...]

This past summer, a group of seven amateur astronomers from Italy worked on an observation campaign of Pluto, with hopes of capturing an image of its moon, Charon. "Imaging Charon is very difficult and nobody has spotted it with amateur equipment, so far," said Daniele Gasparri, one of the members of the group. [...]

The New Horizons spacecraft has now spent over 1,000 days wending its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. To celebrate the milestone, the New Horizons team decided to reveal the secret stowaways on board the spacecraft. Nine objects (can you guess why there are nine?!) were attached and sent along on the [...]

Still seven years away from its rendezvous with Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was awoken from hibernation for the second annual checkout of all systems. The spacecraft and its team back on Earth will also undergo three months of operations as the New Horizons will make observations of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. But [...]

If you thought Pluto was going quietly and giving up its planetary status without a fight, think again. Leading astronomers have spoken out against the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decision to classify the dwarf planet as a "Plutoid," described by some critics as a "celestial underclass." The IAU decision was made ...

The Solar System's outer reaches still contain many minor planets yet to be discovered. Ever since the search for Planet X began in the early 20th Century, the possibility of a hypothetical planet orbiting the Sun beyond the Kuiper Belt has fuelled many Doomsday theories and speculation that Planet X is actually the Sun's long [...]

This has got to be be one of the most heartbreaking questions I get asked, "Why Isn't Pluto a Planet". And I get it a lot. I was expecting that a few years after the International Astronomical Union's controversial decision, the debate would have settled down and people would finally accept it. But no, it's [...]

The mini-moons of Pluto, Nix and Hydra, were discovered in 2005 (but named in 2006) during an observation campaign by the Hubble Space Telescope. The discovery of these mini-moons increase the number of natural satellites orbiting Pluto to three (including larger moon Charon). But where did these satellites come from? The current accepted theory ...

It's been a long journey, 64 episodes, but now we're back where we began: Pluto. Last time we talked about how Pluto lost its planethood status, so we won't go over all that again. This time we're going to talk about Pluto, its moons, the Kuiper belt, and the other icy objects that inhabit the [...]

It's only been a few months since the discovery of ice geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus, and now this dynamic process is turning up all over the Solar System. Astronomers think they've found a similar phenomenon on one of the strangest places: welling up from the surface of Pluto's moon Charon. The discovery was made using ...