homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Pluto is changing colors

Pluto is so upset that it’s no longer a planet, that it’s turning all red with anger ! No, seriously. There’s been a whole lot of “Pluto-related news” these days including the 2006 chalking off of the planet list, and naming it a “dwarf planet”, and the news just gets better and better. Recently, astronomers […]

Mihai Andrei
February 8, 2010 @ 5:09 pm

share Share

pluto2

Pluto is so upset that it’s no longer a planet, that it’s turning all red with anger ! No, seriously. There’s been a whole lot of “Pluto-related news” these days including the 2006 chalking off of the planet list, and naming it a “dwarf planet”, and the news just gets better and better.

Recently, astronomers were stunned to find out that the planet is actually changing colors, and turning more and more red. The official color is still orange-yellow, but the red pigmentation has increased with about 20 percent in a relatively extremely short period.

Due to the great distance and the the fact that one Pluto year has 248 Earth years it’s hard to explain why this happens, but the most satisfying theory is that the hydrogen atoms are being stripped from Pluto’s methane by solar winds, leaving carbon rich areas that look redder. My theory is that Pluto is crazy angry because of the whole “you’re not a planet thing”… so let’s just call it a planet again, and I’m sure it’ll all go back to normal.

share Share

The Sun Will Annihilate Earth in 5 Billion Years But Life Could Move to Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa

When the Sun turns into a Red Giant, Europa could be life's final hope in the solar system.

A Massive Particle Blasted Through Earth and Scientists Think It Might Be The First Detection of Dark Matter

A deep-sea telescope may have just caught dark matter in action for the first time.

Scientists Used Lasers To Finally Explain How Tiny Dunes Form -- And This Might Hold Clues to Other Worlds

Decoding how sand grains move and accumulate on Earth can also help scientists understand dune formation on Mars.

Astronomers Claim the Big Bang May Have Taken Place Inside a Black Hole

Was the “Big Bang” a cosmic rebound? New study suggests the Universe may have started inside a giant black hole.

Astronomers Just Found the Most Powerful Cosmic Event Since the Big Bang. It's At Least 25 Times Stronger Than Any Supernova

The rare blasts outshine supernovae and reshape how we study black holes.

Terraforming Mars Might Actually Work and Scientists Now Have a Plan to Try It

Can we build an ecosystem on Mars — and should we?

New Simulations Suggest the Milky Way May Never Smash Into Andromeda

A new study questions previous Milky Way - Andromeda galaxy collision assumptions.

These Galaxies are Colliding at Two Million Miles Per Hour in Deep Space

A galactic pileup 94 million light-years away is giving astronomers a detailed look at how cosmic collisions shape the universe.

China Is Building The First AI Supercomputer in Space

China wants to turn space satellites into a giant cloud server.

China and Russia Plan to Build a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon by 2035 Leaving the US Behind

A new kind of space race unfolds on the moon's south pole.