Space and Earth Sciences News

While the Hubble space telescope has provided the world with some of the most amazing images ever taken of the very edge of our universe, it has now revealed details of something much closer. The newest images, set to appear in the March issue of the Astronomical Journal, are of everybody's favorite ex-planet—now dwarf planet—Pluto. The images reveal an "icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness." The changes in color are believed to be the result of seasonal variations where surface ice sublimes from one pole and migrates to the other. This transformation occurred over a short, two-year period from 2000 to 2002—that's less than one percent of the total orbital period/seasonal cycle of Pluto. These photos are the sharpest and clearest pictures taken of the planet to date, and will remain so until NASA's New Horizon spacecraft comes within six months of this distant object—something that won't occur until 2015. C