A New 9th Planet Beyond Pluto?

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 20, 2016: http://spaceweather.com

A 9TH PLANET BEYOND PLUTO? Today, planetary scientists from Caltech announced intriguing new evidence for a Neptune-sized planet orbiting the sun beyond Pluto.  The planet itself has not yet been seen, but its gravitational influence on other objects in the outer solar system may lead to its discovery. Visit Spaceweather.com for more information.

SOLAR ECLIPSE BALLOON NETWORK: Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have developed a balloon payload that can photograph solar eclipses from the stratosphere. This sets the stage for an ambitious experiment: We plan to launch more than a dozen balloons into the path of totality of the Great American Eclipse in August 2017 to create a unique video portrait of an eclipse sweeping across the USA. Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com to learn more about the Solar Eclipse Balloon Network and how you can get involved.

Blue Skies on Pluto, Green Skies on Earth

Source - Space Weather News for Oct. 9, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

BLUE SKIES ON PLUTO:  Earth isn't the only planet with blue skies. Pluto has them, too. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has just beamed back the first color images of Pluto's atmosphere, and they look a lot like home.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for the full story.

GREEN SKIES ON EARTH: This week, sky watchers around the Arctic Circle have seen some of the most intense auroras of the current solar cycle. Usually, such displays are caused by CMEs.  Not this time, though. The reason for the outbreak is explained on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.

Space Weather Forecast for Pluto

Source - Space Weather News for July 12, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

SPACE WEATHER ON PLUTO: As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft prepares to buzz Pluto on July 14th, space weather forecasters have released long distance predictions for the distant dwarf planet.  A region of merged CMEs could be on the verge of hitting Pluto and compressing its atmosphere, but this is expected to happen well after the flyby. Meanwhile, New Horizons has just taken its best picture of Pluto's farside, which is dotted with mysterious dark spots.  Check http://spaceweather.com for more information.

AURORA ALERTS:  On July 10th and 11th, a G1-class geomagnetic storm sparked auroras over multiple US states including Michigan, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and the Dakotas. 

Big Picture Science for Monday 06 July 2015 - Dogged Pursuit of Pluto

Big Picture Science - Dogged Pursuit of Pluto

Pluto is ready for its close up – but the near encounter during this historic flyby will last less than three minutes. Be ready for the action with our special New Horizons episode!

Hear from researchers who are Pluto rock stars: the astronomer who discovered two of Pluto’s five moons, the planetary scientist who coined the term “dwarf planet,” and the man who claims to have “killed Pluto.”

Find out how the New Horizons spacecraft will dodge rocks and other dangers as it approaches the planet and what we might learn about planet formation once we arrive. And why the battle over Pluto’s nomenclature continues.

Plus, Neil deGrasse Tyson reads his hate mail – from 3^rd graders.

Guests:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, New York City
• Alan Stern – Planetary scientist, Principal Investigator, New Horizons mission
• Mark Showalter – Senior research scientist, SETI Institute, New Horizons team member
• Mike Brown – Astronomer, California Institute of Technology

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Dogged_Pursuit_of_Pluto

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

NASA Wants You … to Help Name Stuff on Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for April 21, 2015

When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto this July, the spacecraft's high-resolution cameras will spot many new landforms on the dwarf planet's unexplored surface. They are all going to need names—and NASA wants you to help.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/21apr_pluto/

New Horizons Wakes Up on Pluto's Doorstep

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 7, 2014

After a voyage of nearly nine years and three billion miles —the farthest any space mission has ever traveled to reach its primary target – NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft came out of hibernation on Dec. 6th for its long-awaited 2015 encounter with the Pluto system.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/07dec_plutosdoorstep/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIsbN-e1qU



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for 09/08/14 - A Sudden Change in Planets

Big Picture Science - A Sudden Change in Planets

A planet is a planet is a planet. Unless it’s Pluto – then it’s a dwarf planet. But even then it’s a planet, according to experts. So what was behind the unpopular re-classification of Pluto by astronomers, and were they justified?

As the New Horizons spacecraft closes in on this small body, one planetary scientist says that this dwarf planet could be more typical of planets than Mars, Mercury, and Saturn. And that our solar system has not 8 or even 9 planets, but 900.

Also, meet a type of planet that’s surprisingly commonplace, although we don’t have one in our solar system: super Earths. Could they harbor life?

And the DAWN mission continues its visit to the two most massive residents of the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. Discover what these proto-planets may reveal to us about the early solar system.

Guests:

• Alan Stern – Planetary scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission
• Marc Rayman – DAWN Mission chief engineer and mission director
• David Stevenson – Professor of planetary science at CalTech
• Rebekah Dawson – Astronomer, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
• David Eicher – Editor-in-chief, Astronomy Magazine

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/A_Sudden_Change_in_Planets

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

New Horizons Only One Year from Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for July 14, 2014

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is only a year away from Pluto. Researchers are buzzing with anticipation as NASA prepares to encounter a new world for the first time in decades.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/14jul_pluto2015/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://youtu.be/RDIsbN-e1qU




License: Standard YouTube License

Countdown to Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 14, 2014

Eight years after it left Earth, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is approaching Pluto. The encounter begins less than a year from now.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/14jan_pluto/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUB7dRgClSQ



License: Standard YouTube License

Fifth Moon Discovered Around Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for July 13, 2012

While scanning the Pluto system for possible hazards to the approaching New Horizons spacecraft, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fifth moon orbiting the dwarf planet.

The full story can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/13jul_pluto5/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtcIbJKZZQQ

New Horizons Becomes Closest Spacecraft to Approach Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 3, 2011

NASA's New Horizons mission has reached a special milestone on its way to reconnoiter the Pluto system, coming closer to the dwarf planet than any other spacecraft.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/03dec_newhorizons/

See also the related video, Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtcIbJKZZQQ

"Dwarf planet Pluto is a world of mystery waiting to be visited for the first time. NASA's New Horizons probe is racing across the solar system for a ground breaking close encounter that could dramatically alter what researchers "know" about Pluto and other small worlds."

Big Picture Science for 09/05/11 - Seth's Tool Shed

Big Picture Science - Seth's Tool Shed

Anyone who does gardening knows that life is tough. It’s also ancient – the first living things appeared on this planet nearly as soon as our world was habitable. We consider life on real worlds – like Earth and Mars – as well as fictional ones, such as the desert planet from the movie “Dune”. We’ll hear about a new scheme to find Martians, and practical approaches to coping with climate change.

And is Pluto seeking revenge? The unmasking of a fourth moon around this former planet!

We’re making some lively discoveries in Seth’s Tool Shed on Big Picture Science.

Guests:

• Philip Duffy – Physicist and senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Kevin Zahnle – Planetary scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center
• David Summers – Astrobiologist at the SETI Institute
• Christopher Carr – Researcher in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Mark Showalter – Research scientist at the SETI Institute

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Seth_s_Tool_Shed

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 2, 2011

Dwarf planet Pluto is a world of mystery waiting to be visited for the first time. NASA's New Horizons probe is racing across the solar system for a close encounter that could dramatically alter what researchers "know" about Pluto and other small worlds.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02sep_newhorizons/

Companion video source - ScienceAtNASA on Sep 2, 2011

Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for July 20, 2011

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting Pluto. The new satellite was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.

FULL STORY at:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/20jul_p4/



"This composite of two Hubble images shows Pluto's four satellites in motion." (Image copyright NASA)

Halfway to Pluto, New Horizons Wakes Up in Exotic Territory

Source - NASA Science News for June 18, 2010

Halfway to Pluto, NASA's New Horizons probe has woken up in 'exotic territory.' Mission controllers are taking the opportunity to give the spacecraft a thorough system's check in preparation for its Pluto flyby in 2015.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/18jun_newhorizons/

The Mysterious Molasses Markings of Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for April 16, 2010

Hubble images of Pluto have researchers scratching their heads and wondering, what's happening on the dwarf planet? Molasses-colored markings are just one of the mysteries explored in today's story from Science@NASA.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/14apr_molasses/

A note to readers: You may have noticed that the "look and feel" of Science@NASA stories has changed. There's no cause for alarm. Our core product, simply- and clearly-told stories about NASA science, remains the same. The changes are a sign of progress. Recently, the Science@NASA team joined forces with the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters. Working together, we'll be able to cover a broader range of NASA discoveries and develop "citizen science" opportunities for our readers, while still producing old favorites such as Apollo Chronicles and "looking up" stories about backyard astronomy events. The sky's the limit.

Feedback is welcomed. Submit your suggestions and comments at http://science.nasa.gov/contact/

Sincerely, Dr. Tony Phillips
Editor, Science@NASA Headline News

- The above notice arrived with the original news email, and was posted to this blog on behalf of Dr. Tony Phillips, and for the benefit of the readers of this blog so they can provide input to Science@NASA stories.

Regards,

-Jim Cox
http://astrolink.blogspot.com/
http://cloudymidnights.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NW_Astronomers/

Are We Alone for 12/014/09 - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

Are We Alone - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

While the Kepler spacecraft hunts for habitable planets beyond the solar system, we’ve let one of our own planets slip away! Find out why Pluto’s demotion to dwarf status created a public uproar as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reads us his hate mail. From third-graders!

Also, how we might find Earth-like planets… the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan… and TED Prize winner Jill Tarter’s vision for finding E.T.

And, the man who made it all possible: 400 years of Galileo and the telescope. Part of our series for the International Year of Astronomy.

Guests

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, Head of the Hayden Planetarium, and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet
• Alan Stern – Planetary Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, lead investigator on NASA’s New Horizons Mission
• Jeffrey Van Cleve – Astronomer at the Kepler Mission Science Office
• Carolyn Porco – Planetary scientist and Lead for NASA’s Cassini Mission
• Jill Tarter – Director of SETI Research at the SETI Institute
• Andy Fraknoi – Astronomer at Foothill College and author of Voyages Through the Universe (with CD-ROM, Virtual Astronomy Labs, and InfoTrac )

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 03/02/09 - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

Are We Alone - "A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!"
While the Kepler spacecraft hunts for habitable planets outside our galaxy, we’ve let one of our own planets slip away! Find out why Pluto’s demotion to dwarf status created a public uproar as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reads us his hate mail. From third-graders!

Also, how we might find Earth-like planets… the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan… and TED Prize winner Jill Tarter’s vision for finding E.T.
And, the man who made it all possible: 400 years of Galileo and the telescope. Part of our series for the International Year of Astronomy.

Guests

• Neil deGrasse Tyson - Astrophysicist, Head of the Hayden Planetarium, and author of The Pluto Files:The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet
• Alan Stern - Planetary Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, lead investigator on NASA’s New Horizons Mission
• Jeffrey Van Cleve - Astronomer at the Kepler Mission Science Office
• Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist and Lead for NASA’s Cassini Mission
• Jill Tarter - Director of SETI Research at the SETI Institute
• Andy Fraknoi - Astronomer at Foothill College and author of Voyages Through the Universe

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.