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Found 674 results for dwarf planet

Planets' lucky escapes may have simpler explanation

17 January 2024

In this Voyager 2 image of Saturn, obtained Aug. 11, 1981, from a range of 14.7 million kilometers (9.1 million miles), north is at the upper right edge of the disc. Seen above the planet are the satellites Dione (right) and Enceladus. This false-color print shows a green spot at the south edge of a yellow band; in true color, the spot would appear brown and the band white. A bright yellow spot slightly above and to the left in this image moves eastward relative to the green spot at a rate that allows it to pass the green feature in about 50 days. The convective clouds that appear between the two spots are typical of the region. Here, the smallest visible structures measure about 270 kilometers (170 miles). The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia01959-voyager-2-image-of-saturn

What is the probability that Voyager 1 or 2 will hit a planet or star?

10 January 2024

The likelihood of this happening is extraordinarily low, say our readers, because interstellar space is so vast

Possibly the smallest stars ever discovered

Astronomers have spotted what may be the smallest stars ever seen

15 December 2023

The James Webb Space Telescope has found three objects about a thousand light years away that may be the least massive brown dwarf stars ever seen – though it is unclear how they formed

Artist's impression of a planet around a red giant star

Strange alien worlds suggest Earth could survive the death of the sun

12 December 2023

We thought there was no chance our world could survive the fiery death of the sun in another 5 billion years. Now sightings of strange "orphan planets" might force us to rewrite the story

FG10H1 JUPITER: EUROPA, 1979. /nJupiter's moon, Europa. Photographed by Voyager 2, 1979.

How excited should we be by signs of life spotted on alien worlds?

21 November 2023

We keep spotting molecular “biosignatures” in the atmospheres of planets beyond Earth, but it isn't clear if any of them can provide definitive evidence that we’re not alone

Can we smash together all of the asteroids to build a new planet?

7 November 2023

The asteroid belt is messy and sometimes a threat to our solar system’s planets, so on this episode of Dead Planets Society it’s time to tidy it up into a single asteroid world

Seven wonders of the Milky Way: An astronomer’s guide to the galaxy

16 October 2023

Join us on an exhilarating tour of the Milky Way’s most spectacular sights – from a monstrous black hole and a river of dark matter to a diamond planet, primordial stars and a cosmic hall of mirrors

How asteroids can help us understand our place in the cosmos

9 October 2023

With the recent launch of the Psyche mission and the return of samples from the asteroid Bennu, asteroids are all the rage – but if they're just big rocks floating in the void, why do scientists care so much about them?

Eris and Makemake might be hiding unexpected oceans of liquid water

21 September 2023

Dwarf planets aren’t expected to carry liquid water, but hints of surprising geological activity spotted with JWST indicate that some of them might have buried oceans

Could we tweak the solar system to make Pluto a planet again?

12 September 2023

Pluto officially lost its planethood in 2006, and this episode of Dead Planets Society is all about bringing it back by making it bigger, faster and better than ever