Articles about dwarf planets

Farout! Astronomers identify the most distant known object in our solar system

Astronomers say they’ve discovered the most distant body ever observed in our solar system, a potential dwarf planet that’s about… Read More

NASA’s Dawn probe falls silent, ending mission to mysterious dwarf planet Ceres

Dawn is dead, but Dawn is not gone: Today NASA said that the Dawn spacecraft has fallen out of contact… Read More

Search for Planet Nine turns up a way-out dwarf planet that’s called ‘The Goblin’

While searching for a hypothetical Planet Nine, astronomers found a distant mini-world that’s been given a spooky nickname: “The Goblin.”… Read More

NASA’s Dawn probe snaps close-ups of Ceres’ formerly mysterious white spots

The once-mysterious bright spots shining on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres are getting their closest close-ups from NASA’s… Read More

Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one

It took nine years for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to get to Pluto, and laying the groundwork for that history-making… Read More

Happy Kwanzaa from NASA – and Ceres!

Kwanzaa may be an African-American festival on Earth, but it’s also a cute little mountain on the dwarf planet Ceres –… Read More

Looking for Planet 9 and other far-out objects? Finally, NASA has an app for that

Citizen scientists can join an online hunt for icy worlds, brown dwarfs and other yet-to-be-discovered objects beyond the orbit of… Read More

Water, water everywhere on Ceres: Ice lies just below dwarf planet’s surface

Readings from instruments aboard NASA’s Dawn orbiter support the view that a treasure trove of frozen water lies just beneath… Read More

Dawn probe points to ice volcano and thin atmosphere on dwarf planet Ceres

Scientists say a mysterious mountain on the dwarf planet Ceres was apparently once an ice volcano, spewing salty water and… Read More

Astronomers say they’ve spotted a dwarf planet that’s farther out than Pluto

Astronomers have found an icy world that ranges far beyond the orbit of Neptune and may well rank as a dwarf… Read More

Dwarf planet Ceres’ mysterious bright spot hints at upwelling of salty water

Scientists say the brightest spot on surface of the dwarf planet Ceres has the highest concentration of carbonate minerals they’ve ever seen… Read More

New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see

Almost a year after NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, the team behind the mission has put together a… Read More

Dwarfy McPlanetface? The icy world known as 2007 OR10 cries out for a name

Observations made by NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggest that the icy world known as 2007 OR10 is bigger than astronomers thought… Read More

Hubble Space Telescope spots a moon circling faraway dwarf planet Makemake

Chalk up another moon for the dwarf planets: Astronomers have sifted through imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope to find a tiny satellite circling… Read More

Dwarf planet Ceres’ mystery bright spots get their close-up from Dawn probe

The scientists behind NASA’s Dawn mission today showed off their latest, greatest pictures of the dwarf planet Ceres, including close-up views… Read More

Weird! New Horizons probe spots islands of water ice floating in nitrogen slush

There’s plenty of evidence that Pluto is a frozen water world, with mountains of ice that rise more than 10,000… Read More

Map reveals that there’s more water ice on Pluto

A color-coded map from NASA’s New Horizons mission shows where Pluto’s frozen water is concentrated, just in case we need… Read More

‘Planet Nine’? Astronomers boost the case for a large, unseen Planet X

For decades, astronomers have gone back and forth over whether a “Planet X” exists on the edge of our solar… Read More

The Year in Aerospace: New horizons in 2015, from drones to dwarf planets

New Horizons is the name of the Pluto mission that reached its climax in 2015, but the name also provides… Read More

Ceres as you’ve never seen it before: NASA’s Dawn orbiter delivers closest close-ups of dwarf planet

Earlier this month we started seeing some of the closest views yet of Pluto, and now it’s time for close-ups from… Read More

NASA’s New Horizons mission colorizes Pluto’s close-up – and zooms in on its pits

The Pluto pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe just keep getting better and better: Feast your eyes on this colorized… Read More

NASA’s New Horizons probe sends its closest close-up of Pluto

If you heart Pluto, you’ll love the sharpest, closest close-up of the dwarf planet, just sent back by NASA’s New Horizons… Read More

See how the world turns on Pluto and Charon, thanks to NASA’s New Horizons

The bright heart of Pluto has been burned into our consciousness, thanks to scads of high-resolution pictures. But a new set… Read More

Astronomers spot most distant known world in the solar system: V774104

Astronomers say they’ve identified the most distant celestial object in our solar system – a speck of light more than three times… Read More

Ice volcanoes on Pluto? NASA’s New Horizons probe spots ‘weird’ mountains

Scientists with NASA’s New Horizons mission say that at least a couple of the miles-high mountains on Pluto look as… Read More

Kerberos unleashed at last: Pluto’s dog-bone moon poses another mystery

NASA’s New Horizons probe has finally filled out its family portrait of Pluto and its moons – and Kerberos, the last… Read More

Science journal gives New Horizons mission to Pluto its day in the sun

The first peer-reviewed scientific paper about the New Horizons probe’s July flyby past Pluto lays out puzzling evidence that suggests the… Read More

Dwarf planet Ceres’ puzzling ‘pyramid’ mountain gets close-up from NASA’s Dawn probe

NASA’s mission to that other dwarf planet, Ceres, has delivered a fresh bird’s-eye view of one of the asteroid’s most… Read More