Gooey nitrogen ice may make Pluto’s crater-free heart look young
27 March 2018
The surface of Sputnik Planitia, part of a heart-shaped plain on Pluto, has no craters at all. They may have been filled in by soft, flowing nitrogen ice
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Found 317 results for dwarf planet
Astronaut pee could keep plants alive in space for decades
23 March 2018
On missions to Mars and beyond, astronauts will have to grow their own food. Urine has been shown in space simulations to keep wheat and soy alive over 20 years
Dwarf planet Ceres has a water cycle but it’s not like Earth’s
14 March 2018
Ceres, a distant dwarf planet, hosts sheets of ice just under its surface. In the summer, some of this ice may sublimate and coat shadowy crater walls in frost
Oceans on alien worlds may form when the air explodes in flames
14 February 2018
When hydrogen and oxygen combine in a planet’s atmosphere, they can ignite into a ball of fire and then leave behind liquid water oceans that would be good for life
We may be able to see mountains and valleys on distant worlds
12 January 2018
If alien planets have canyons and mountains like ours, we may be able to catch a glimpse of them in an exoplanet’s shadow as it passes in front of its star
Hidden exoplanets could be revealed by echoing light
11 January 2018
Reflected light from a star’s flares may help us find otherwise invisible worlds. These exoplanets could be hit by powerful blasts, but may still host life
That interstellar asteroid could be a shard of a shredded planet
8 December 2017
'Oumuamua, an oddly shaped asteroid from beyond our solar system, recently passed by. It may have formed when a planet was ripped into fragments by its star
Planets near dangerous stars could shield alien life under smog
4 December 2017
Red and white dwarfs make nasty neighbours due to spurts of deadly radiation, but alien life could still form on planets nearby if shielded by smog or oceans
We just sent a message to try to talk to aliens on another world
16 November 2017
We've just sent a message to a nearby star to see if there's any life there - and we'll only have to wait 25 years for a reply
A layer of haze keeps Pluto’s atmosphere extremely cold
15 November 2017
Pluto is far from the sun, so astronomers expect its atmosphere to be cold, but it's colder than predicted. Now we know that soot sends the sun’s heat back into space
