Pluto was first spotted on this day in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, a 23-year-old astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Because it"s so far away—about 40 times as far from the sun as Earth is—scientists knew relatively little about Pluto until the New Horizons spacecraft reached it in 2015. In a flyby study, the craft spent more than five months gathering detailed information about Pluto and its moons. What did they find out? There’s a heart-shaped glacier, blue skies, spinning moons, mountains as high as the Rockies, and it snows—but the snow is red.
Too awesome to be a planet
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Lobster tales
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World Theatre Day
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A. M. Foster Bridge in Cabot, Vermont
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In Texas, even the riverbend is big
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Arbor Day
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Celebrating World Wildlife Day
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A theatrical dream
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Noctilucent clouds
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Happy Easter from the ‘peeps’ at Bing
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2022 Winter Paralympics
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Aurora borealis
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International Tiger Day
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Loud waters
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Valentines Day
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Paradise, found
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Can you see the family resemblance?
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Iceberg off the coast of Antarctica
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GOAL!
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Longer days mean warmer sand
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Winter Olympics in Beijing
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Beavers Bend
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A tree of many memories
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Reflecting on Black History Month
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Go Fly a Kite Day
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The Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy
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Mada in Saleh, Saudi Arabia
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The birthplace of Cinco de Mayo
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The Big Blue of the Sierra
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Monarch butterflies migrate south
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May the Fourth be with you…