The appearance of outer most (dwarf) planet Pluto has changed significantly in the last two years, after remaining relatively unaltered for the previous 50.
The new images, taken in 2002 and 2003, confirm that Pluto’s surface is actively changing. For reasons that are still mysterious, Pluto’s appearance remained constant for some 50 years of [...]
Are we witnessing climate change on Pluto?
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 8 February, 2010 to the comment subset
Act locally, think intergalactically, Pluto is a planet in Illinois
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 13 March, 2009 to the comment subset
Today is Pluto Day, at least if you live in the US state of Illinois, where lawmakers have also decreed that Pluto is a planet, in contravention of the International Astronomical Union 2006 ruling declaring it be classified a dwarf planet, as it is “too small” to be a full-sized planet.
Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto [...]
Pluto is a planet in the US, a “thing” elsewhere
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 21 August, 2008 to the comment subset
Astronomers Neil deGrasse Tyson and Mark Sykes recently debated what it takes for a solar object to be classified as a planet, but failed to reach a consensus.
Maybe it could be be put to a popular vote, based on an observation made by Tyson:
He added that Americans are much more attached to Pluto than people [...]
Pluto is a planet, not a haemorrhoid
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 24 June, 2008 to the comment subset
Don’t how I missed this, but apparently the Solar System’s outermost “member”, Pluto, together with co-dwarf planet Eris, have now been deemed “plutoids” rather than planets.
I know Pluto lost its status as a fully-fledged planet sometime ago, but it seems I’m not the only one miffed by the new plutoid designation…
Last week, the International Astronomical [...]
