Alan Stern
Alan Stern
Sol Alan Sternis an American engineer and planetary scientist. He is the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Chief Scientist at Moon Express...
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We've learned that the view of four inner rocky planets and four outer gas giants and one misfit Pluto is wrong. Now we understand Pluto's context.
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Even though it's not as sensitive or as high resolution as the Hubble, we're able to look at the inner planets close to the sun and map wide regions of the sky very quickly.
initial led planets since states united united-states
This is, in a very real sense, the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets that the United States has led for the world since the 1960s.
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This is the capstone of the missions to the planets that NASA has led since the 1960s.
initial led planets since states united united-states
This is in a very real sense the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets that the United States has led for the world since the 1960s.
earth planets pluto solar system turns
It used to be that Pluto was a misfit. Now it turns out that Earth is the misfit. Most planets in the solar system look like Pluto, and not like the terrestrial planets.
chihuahua dwarfs ice planetary
Just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs are still planetary bodies.
belt bodies moon result
Our result suggests that other bodies in the Kuiper Belt may have more than one moon as well,
account belt bodies means modeling planetary pluto result scientists
Our result suggests other bodies in the Kuiper Belt may have more than one moon. It also means planetary scientists will have to take these new moons into account when modeling the formation of the Pluto system.
crude earth finally
Out Earth-based observations are still too crude to tell us much about what we'll see when we finally get there. We still don't know what we don't know about Pluto.
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Just on a visceral level, the fact that Pluto has a whole suite of companions will make some people feel better.
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We know of 17 objects that could be called planets, most of which are ice dwarfs. So Pluto is typical of what is probably the most populous type of planet in our solar system. It probably mimics other Kuiper Belt objects.
moon nine months
It'll be the fastest spacecraft ever to Jupiter...13 months after launch. We pass the Moon in just nine hours.
halloween moon pluto
It's strictly coincidental that Pluto of course was named for the god of the underworld and we're describing these Halloween moons