What Neptune really looks like is not what you see in images

What Neptune really looks like is not what you see in images Neptune is almost always shown as a bright, glowing blue planet. In images, it looks vivid and colorful, surprisingly luminous for a world nearly five billion kilometers from the Sun. In reality, Neptune appears much more subdued than these images suggest. It would […]

How far does the solar system actually go, and what is out there?

How far does the solar system actually go, and what is out there? Most people imagine the edge of the solar system somewhere near Pluto, a distant world that orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 40 times farther than Earth. For decades, Pluto felt like the final frontier. It’s not even close. […]

Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet anymore?

Illustration of Pluto Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet anymore? Pluto didn’t change, but our definition of a planet did. For most of the 20th century, Pluto was taught as the ninth planet, until 2006 when astronomers refined the rules of planethood. Pluto no longer meet all of them, and as a result […]