Seeing Pluto like never before
The HinduPluto has fascinated humankind from the time it was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. As Pluto completed one rotation along its axis in 6.4 Earth days, Hubble snapped photographs of the entire surface of the object from its vantage point, 4.3 billion km away! Hubble’s images were able to reveal surface features of Pluto hitherto unknown. By comparing the 1994 Hubble images with those taken in 2002-03, astronomers were able to gather evidence about the fact that Pluto’s northern polar region got brighter, while the southern hemisphere got darker. Hubble’s pictures not only remained the sharpest views of Pluto until NASA’s New Horizons probe was within six months of its Pluto flyby in 2015, but these images also helped scientists to plan the details of that flyby.
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Pluto is alive! Scientists confirm volcanoes of ice, not seen anywhere in solar system, erupting on surface
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