GeekWire Calendar Picks: Black Girls Code workshops, Pluto’s planetary debate, FFA’s Champion Awards, and more — Black Girls CODE, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching girls of color ages 7-17 about computer programming and technology, is… Read More
What is a ‘planet’? Historical study revisits the debate over Pluto and other dwarfs Twelve years after the International Astronomical Union voted in a definition of planethood that reclassified Pluto, the debate goes on.… Read More
Planetary scientists suggest that Pluto was put together from a billion comets Did Pluto form like its closer-in brethren in the solar system, or is it the result of an agglomeration of… 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
Astronomers give their official blessing to the first batch of place names on Pluto Some of the best-known places on Pluto, including the heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio, have finally gone legit. But lots of other… Read More
IAU and New Horizons science team make peace over the names on Pluto’s map It’s taken a year and a half, but the International Astronomical Union and the science team behind NASA’s New Horizons… Read More
How a shifting ocean caused Pluto to flip over – putting its ‘heart’ in the right place Pluto’s famous heart-shaped feature may well have migrated over the course of millions of years as the dwarf planet spun,… Read More
New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months More than 15 months after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, the last bit of data captured during the… Read More
How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s? Scientists have been saying for months that Pluto could have a salty, sloshing ocean beneath its icy surface, but now… Read More
How Pluto’s methane turned into red ‘spray paint’ on its biggest moon Charon When NASA’s New Horizons probe sent back pictures of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, researchers were surprised to see a big… Read More
One year after Pluto flyby, New Horizons mission looks back and looks ahead One year ago today, NASA’s New Horizons probe whizzed past Pluto and opened up a new frontier for planetary science –… Read More
NASA extends New Horizons mission to Kuiper Belt, tells Dawn to stay at Ceres Almost a year after New Horizons’ unprecedented flyby of Pluto, NASA has given the official go-ahead for the probe to… Read More
Pluto may still have an ocean under its ice Pluto is one of the coldest places in the solar system, but scientists say geological activity could still keep an… 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
What’s new from New Horizons: Clean water ice on Pluto’s far-out moon, Hydra If you’re looking for a place to chip off an ice cube for a cool interplanetary drink, you can’t do… Read More
Ancient Pluto could have had rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen, scientists say Rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen may have splashed over Pluto’s surface hundreds of millions of years ago, and could do… Read More
Clouds on Pluto? Pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe spark discussion Even before NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, scientists thought they might see clouds in its thin atmosphere – and… Read More
Why methane snow covers Pluto’s peaks The dark terrain informally known as Cthulhu Regio sweeps nearly halfway around Pluto’s equator, with light-colored peaks sticking up from… Read More
Pluto’s polar canyons get their close-up The heart-shaped region along Pluto’s equator has been the darling of NASA’s New Horizons mission, but it’s the north polar… Read More
New Horizons imagery backs up the claim that Charon, Pluto’s biggest moon, once had an ocean Scientists say the patterns of ice in canyons on Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, look as if some the frozen water was… Read More
Scientists dissect Pluto’s heart, for geology’s sake Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the scientists behind NASA’s New Horizons mission are sharing a map that brings a different perspective… 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
NASA puts Pluto and its heart on a valentine Say it with Pluto? After NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft spotted a heart-shaped region on Pluto, you had to know it… 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
New Horizons team shares new X-Files from Pluto If “X-Files” are defined as data about weird and alien phenomena, NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has X-Files galore. And this… Read More
Postal Service geeks out with space stamps for Pluto, planets, the moon and Star Trek For the first time since 1991, Pluto and the solar system’s eight bigger planets are getting their own postage stamps… Read More
New Horizons probe sends more amazing pics of Pluto and a tiny moon called Nix The hits just keep on coming from NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto: This week’s stunners include views of the… 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
