Seven Myths About Pluto

 

Since Pluto’s discovery by Clyde Tombough in 1930, it has remained a great mystery.  It’s difficult to study since it’s about 3 billion miles away from the sun.  The Hubble Space Telescope has been able to capture images of the dwarf planet, but Hubble is really geared towards taking pictures of giant objects like galaxies, not dwarf planets–so the images we have of Pluto are fuzzy.  However, Pluto is about to get its first sharp images courtesy of the New Horizons spacecraft as it passes the dwarf planet by 7,800 miles by July 14th.  With this date looming only next month, let’s take some time to take a fresh look at Pluto and the seven biggest misconceptions that people have of it.

The First Color Photos of Pluto and Charon

The first color image of Pluto and its moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 9. The image is a preliminary reconstruction which will later be refined by the New Horizon science team.

A Discovery Nine Years in the Making

NASA released photos on Wednesday that show details that astronomers have only dreamed of:  first images captured of Pluto’s moons by New Horizons probe in 2015.

The Life and Times of Planet X?

When I was younger I remember hearing about the discovery of a new planet dubbed Planet X.  At the time I heard about this “Planet X” it was supposed to be the tenth planet in our solar system.  But then, as time went on, I never heard about it again.  The years went by and I forgot about Planet X.  It’s like it exited the galaxy without a goodbye.  And then it seemed there was this resurgence in the name or in the very concept of Planet X.  A band came out with name Planet X that got my attention and then two films came out that dealt with a rogue planet: Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” and Mike Cahill’s “Another Earth.”  So whatever happened to this new planet that seemingly came and went?  Whatever happened to Planet X?