These icy bodies orbit the sun just like the major planets, yet they follow their own rules, often traveling along elongated ...

Earth has a newly-discovered neighbor in the solar system. But the heavenly body – possibly a dwarf planet à la Pluto – isn't a frequent visitor. Located beyond Neptune, its extreme orbit ...

The heart's brightness arises from sunlight reflection, while red patches, formed by tholins, showcase Pluto's atmospheric ...

Pluto and Charon don’t behave like a typical planet and moon system. Instead of Charon orbiting inside Pluto’s body, both objects orbit a point in space between them called the barycenter. That’s why ...

Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 when the IAU redefined what it means to be a planet, declaring that a planet must be a celestial body that orbits the sun, is round or nearly round and ...

The science community may be ecstatic over the discovery of a ninth planet, but the former planet "Pluto" had a totally different reaction. Hours after scientists announced there's solid evidence of ...

Aug. 15, 2006 — -- When Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930, he made a mess of the solar system. Pluto was too small, too distant, and of the wrong makeup to qualify as a planet, many ...

Frankly, we don’t keep up much with Pluto and its status as a planet or non-planet. It’s kind of like when, as a young altar boy, the Catholic Church demoted a bunch of saints. We just rolled with the ...