astronomy, dwarf planet, new discoveries, ninth planet, pluto

The Solar System Used to Have Nine Planets: Maybe It Still Does?

Some of us remember August 24, 2006, like it was yesterday. It was the day Pluto got booted from the exclusive “planets club”. I (Sara) was 11 years old, and my entire class began lunch break by passionately chanting, “Pluto is a planet,” in protest of the information we’d just received. It was a touching ...

Troy Oakes

Planets in the Solar System.

A Beating Heart, Liquid Ocean, and Other Mysteries of Icy Pluto

Five years ago, NASA’s New Horizons flyby returned with up-close photos of Pluto. They were the first we’d seen of the dwarf planet that are non-pixelated. Pluto has been an enigma since its discovery in 1930, but seeing it up close gave rise to more questions than answers. Far from what scientists imagined, the mysteries ...

Armin Auctor

Pluto.

Is Pluto A Planet? New Research Suggests Yes

The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to new research from the University of Central Florida. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union, a global group of astronomy experts, established a definition of a planet that required it to “clear” its orbit, or in other words, be the largest gravitational force in ...

Troy Oakes

The planet Pluto.