Pluto
Latest about Pluto
![Pluto, as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby of the dwarf planet in July 2015.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bZuY3jY7P5QdiHkqjj38AP-320-80.jpg)
Surprise! Pluto may have had an underground ocean from the very beginning
By Charles Q. Choi published
Though Pluto is now famously frigid, it may have started off as a hot world that formed rapidly and violently, a new study finds.
![Pluto’s haze layer displays a blue color in this image obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft's Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera. Image released Oct. 8, 2015.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/v28r3CMviZkPizjfbgC43Q-320-80.jpg)
Pluto's wispy atmosphere may be surprisingly robust
By Mike Wall published
Pluto's thin, blue-tinged air may not collapse when the dwarf planet is far from the sun.
![An undated photograph of Elizabeth Williams.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XXRg5Zc3LUgEw5ahgN3a2o-320-80.jpg)
Meet the unknown female mathematician whose calculations helped discover Pluto
By Meghan Bartels published
Pluto's discovery wouldn't have been possible, astronomers have realized, without the calculations of a mathematician whom history has forgotten.
![The left lobe of Pluto's heart-shaped feature is a 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometers) ice plain known as Sputnik Planitia.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/us7V64YEL5L34P64EetPx-320-80.jpg)
Pluto's famous heart powers icy winds on the dwarf planet
By Mike Wall published
Pluto's heart-shaped feature, which NASA's New Horizons spacecraft discovered during its epic July 2015 flyby of Pluto, drives atmospheric circulation on the dwarf planet, a new study suggests.
![NASA's New Horizons spacecraft discovered layers of haze on the dwarf planet Pluto during its 2015 flyby.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/R4jAFoCfpj7G9EZCYmNvCY-320-80.png)
Pluto and Titan are surprisingly hazy, but scientists are fuzzy on exactly why
By Meghan Bartels published
NASA's New Horizons mission turned Pluto from a fuzzy blob into a detailed, geophysically complex world. But it's still a little fuzzy, as it turns out.
![NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine spoke last month at the International Astronautical Congress, where he said that Pluto ought to be considered a planet.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3PPfhEiUgDQEiDbMbwsbq6-320-80.jpg)
NASA Chief Keeps Saying 'Pluto Is a Planet' Because It's a Complex, Amazing World
By Elizabeth Howell published
The long-standing debate over Pluto's planethood recently got a public boost from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who said the world should definitely be a planet.
![Pluto, as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby of the dwarf planet in July 2015.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bZuY3jY7P5QdiHkqjj38AP-320-80.jpg)
NASA Eyes a Possible Return to Pluto, with a Longer Stay
By Mike Wall published
NASA is thinking about going back to Pluto, this time to stay for a while.
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