Not a planet, still interesting February 7, 2010
Posted by sarah in: new astronomy, pics , trackback
Despite Mike Brown‘s best efforts, Pluto is not dead (yet). These cool new images of the tiny non-planet taken with the Hubble Space Telescope show that it is by no means a boring lump of icy rock. When comparing these images, taken in 2002-2003, to a previous set dating back to 1994, scientists noticed some striking changes. This would suggest that Pluto, just like many bodies in the solar system, shows seasonal activity and all kinds of interesting chemistry as it moves along its looong orbit around the Sun.
Image: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)
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