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
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What s cuter than nuzzling rhinos?
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Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California
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Teacher Appreciation Day
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International Beaver Day
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Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
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A cliff-hanging complex of temples
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Once upon a midafternoon dreary…
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Let the games (finally) begin!
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Ostuni, Apulia, Italy
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International Sloth Day
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Barracudas at Shark Reef, Ras Mohammed National Park, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
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Dog days of summer
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World Lake Day in the Faroe Islands
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Holidays in the Venetian Lagoon
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Bryce Canyon National Park turns 100
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Mother s Day
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Is that a buzzing sound?
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Mount Rainier National Park
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When in Rome...celebrate Saturnalia
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Veterans Day
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Lake Magadi, Kenya
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Honoring some real heroes of World War II
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Happy Juneteenth!
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Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Thomsons gazelles, Maasai Mara, Kenya
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A Welsh wonder turns 70
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Zoroaster Temple, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
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Vinh Hy Bay, Vietnam
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Avalanche Lake Trail at Adirondack High Peaks, New York
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Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India