All articles tagged with #dwarf planet
Pluto's year is about 248 Earth years, so since its 1930 discovery it has not completed a full orbit and will not until March 23, 2178. Its highly elliptical, inclined orbit takes it between 30 and 49 AU from the Sun, with perihelion in 1989 and aphelion around 2114. Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, and NASA's New Horizons carried Clyde Tombaugh's ashes on its 2015 Pluto flyby.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told a Senate hearing he supports reconsidering Pluto’s status as a planet, reviving the decades-long debate after the IAU downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006. The discussion centers on Pluto’s location in the Kuiper Belt and its failure to clear its orbit, one of the IAU’s criteria for a full planet, with Isaacman signaling ongoing research that could prompt broader scientific discussion—though the final call rests with the IAU.
Barry Petchesky argues that despite Trump’s desire to have Pluto reclassified as a planet, the IAU’s 2006 definition creating the dwarf-planet category stands, and cannot be overturned by executive action or NASA funding tactics; Pluto remains scientifically a dwarf planet with a fascinating history and features, regardless of its label.
A Tampa fourth grader wrote to NASA asking Pluto be restored to planet status, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman replied, “Kaela, we are looking into this.” While NASA has signaled support for reconsidering Pluto’s status, the final decision rests with the International Astronomical Union, which reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006 after criteria that it must clear its orbit. The story highlights a decades-long controversy over Pluto’s classification, aided by New Horizons findings of Pluto’s geology and activity and the idea that scientific labels require international consensus rather than unilateral action by any single agency.
Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected faint traces of fluorescent methane gas around the dwarf planet Makemake, suggesting it is more active than previously thought and challenging the idea of it being a dormant icy body in the outer solar system.
Scientists using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have detected methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake, indicating it is a dynamic icy world with possible transient activity or a thin atmosphere, making it only the second trans-Neptunian object after Pluto to have confirmed gas presence.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake, suggesting the presence of a thin atmosphere or geological activity, making it only the second trans-Neptunian object after Pluto with confirmed gas. Future observations are needed to determine the exact mechanism behind this volatile activity.
Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have detected methane gas above the surface of Makemake, a dwarf planet beyond Neptune, indicating it may have a thin, Pluto-like atmosphere or localized outgassing, challenging previous beliefs that it was a completely frozen, inactive world.
A team using the James Webb Space Telescope has detected methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake, suggesting it may have a tenuous, active atmosphere or transient outgassing, making it only the second trans-Neptunian object after Pluto with confirmed gas presence.
Astronomers have discovered a new trans-Neptunian object, 2017 OF201, which has a vast orbit and potential dwarf planet size, suggesting more hidden bodies exist beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. The discovery challenges previous assumptions about the emptiness of this region and highlights the power of open science in astronomical research.
New research suggests that billions of years ago, the dwarf planet Ceres may have had the right ingredients and energy sources to support simple microbial life, due to past hydrothermal activity driven by radioactive decay, despite its current icy and cold state.
NASA's study suggests that Ceres may have once had conditions suitable for microbial life, with a subsurface ocean enriched with chemicals and energy sources, similar to Earth's hydrothermal vents, although it is no longer habitable today.
New NASA research suggests that Ceres, the largest asteroid in the belt, may have had a long-lasting source of chemical energy in its past, potentially supporting microbial life, due to a steady supply of hot, mineral-rich water from its interior, although current conditions are too cold for habitability.
Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet called Ammonite beyond Pluto, which challenges the existing Planet Nine hypothesis by its unusual orbit, suggesting the possibility that such a large planet may not exist or was ejected from the solar system.
Astronomers in Japan have discovered a distant object named Ammonite beyond Neptune, which is part of a group called Sednoids that have elongated orbits. This discovery challenges the hypothesis of a ninth planet influencing these objects, suggesting a more complex history of the solar system. Ammonite's orbit and characteristics provide insights into the early solar system and its evolution.