http://www.plutotoday.com/ Pluto Today en-us Sun, 5 Feb 2012 2:30:01 PST kcowing@spaceref.com mkboucher@spaceref.com Copyright 2006, SpaceRef Interactive Inc. http://images.spaceref.com/pluto.today.sm.jpg http://www.plutotoday.com/ 112 59 Pluto Today - a service of SpaceRef http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=35924 New Horizons' flight to explore the Pluto system in July 2015 will be a historic accomplishment for the U.S. space program, for planetary science, and indeed for all humankind. Wed, 1 Feb 2012 21:56:37 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=39610 Today, the team fulfilling that wish mourns Patsy Tombaugh, who died Jan. 12 in Las Cruces, N.M. She was 99. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:34:40 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=35589 The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard Hubble has discovered a strong ultraviolet-wavelength absorber on Pluto's surface, providing new evidence that points to the possibility of complex hydrocarbon and/or nitrile molecules lying on the surface Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:26:55 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=39013 New Horizons remains healthy and on course, now almost two times as far from the Sun as the Earth is, and approaching six years into its 9.5-year journey to the Pluto system. Tue, 8 Nov 2011 17:37:12 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=35052 Astronomers have accurately measured the diameter of the faraway dwarf planet Eris for the first time by catching it as it passed in front of a faint star. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:17:55 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=38284 At this moment one of the fastest spacecraft ever launched -New Horizons - is hurtling at nearly one million miles per day. Launched in 2006, it has been in flight longer than some missions last, and still has four more years of travel to go. Mon, 5 Sep 2011 20:24:38 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=38081 In June and July, members of the New Horizons science team, using the Hubble Space Telescope, discovered and confirmed that Pluto has a fourth moon! Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:10:06 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=33967 A team from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville has developed the website IceHunters which challenges the public to discover potential destinations for a NASA mission at the very edge of the solar system set to happen around 2015. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 2:24:26 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=33966 A Williams College team of astronomers, headed by Bryce Babcock and Jay Pasachoff, have been in Hawaii, near Honolulu, to observe a rare double-double event about Pluto. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 2:23:09 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=35138 On Sunday, Oct. 17, at 3:24 Universal Time, we passed the halfway mark in the number of days from launch to Pluto encounter - the last of our halfway milestones en route to Pluto! From here, we have fewer days in front of us than behind us. Tue, 19 Oct 2010 4:11:01 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=31816 A team of scientists has revealed that the frozen surface of Eris, the largest-known dwarf planet orbiting the Sun, is predominantly covered in nitrogen ice, similar to the surface of Pluto. Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:01:53 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=31327 In early 2007 New Horizons flew through the Jupiter system snapping stunning, close-up images of Jupiter and its largest moons. Fast forward to 2010 and New Horizons has given us another glimpse of old friend Jupiter. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:34:18 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=31069 Until now, astronomers have used telescopes to find Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), moon-sized bodies, and obtain their spectra to determine what types of ices are on their surface. Fri, 18 Jun 2010 8:50:29 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=34246 New Horizons is speeding through an ocean of space among the giant planets and the nearly 2.5 billion-mile expanse of the middle solar system. Onboard our spacecraft, all systems are "go" and we continue to speed outward at nearly a million miles per day. Thu, 3 Jun 2010 10:08:59 http://www.plutotoday.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=33582 Today New Horizons is 15.96 astronomical units (2.39 billion kilometers, or 1.48 billion miles) from the Sun - halfway between Earth's location on launch day in Jan 2006, and Pluto's place during New Horizons' encounter with the planet in July 2015. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 8:41:33