Dan Brandon
Author's posts
May 15
NASA Pluto Probe Begins Search for New Moons, Rings
Artist’s concept of NASA New Horizons probe zooming through the Pluto system in July 2015. Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research institute A NASA spacecraft speeding toward Pluto is casting a wary eye on the dwarf planet system, looking for anything that could trip it up in the homestretch of its historic mission. NASA’s …
May 08
What is the Moon’s Real Name?
High resolution photo map of the moon’s far side imaged by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA As of 2015, there are 146 official moons in the Solar System, and then another 27 provisional moons, who are still waiting on the status of their application. All official moons have names after gods or Shakespeare characters. …
May 05
Size of the Milky Way Upgraded, Solving Galaxy Puzzle
The disk of the Milky Way Galaxy disk may actually be rippled.Credit: Heidi Newberg Two ringlike structures of stars wrapping around the Milky Way’s outer disk now appear to belong to the disk itself. The results, outlined in a new study, show that the disk is about 60 percent larger than previously thought. Not …
