Current Events

  • Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather
    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong corr...Read more

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    Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather

    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period. Data analyzed in this study cover the period from 431 to 1649, during which time up to 48 volcanic eruptions are identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. You can find the study (open access), published on 6 June 2013 in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article. Find out more about how volcanoes can influence climate.
  • EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US
    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, acco...Read more

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    EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US

    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. For more information on the tornado, visit http://ow.ly/i/2hfDG.
  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.

Pluto Image List




This is the clearest view of Pluto and its satellite Charon seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and taken by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera on February 21, 1994. (Courtesy of NASA and Dr. R. Albrecht, ESA/ESO Space)
(12K JPG)


This is an image of Pluto taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
(28K JPG)


This is an artist's conception of Pluto and Charon. Pluto is in the background and Charon is in the foreground. (Courtesy of Pat Rawlings, Science Applications International)
(183K GIF)


This is an image of Pluto and Charon taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. (Courtesy of Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. 1994)
(29K GIF)


This is the same image.
(145K GIF)


This is an image of Pluto and Charon from the Nordic Optical Telescope. (Courtesy of Nordic Optical Telescope, La Palma)
(36K GIF)


This is an image of Pluto from earth based occultation measurements.
(17K GIF)


This is an image of Charon from earth based occultation measurements.
(11K GIF)


This is an artist conception of a proposed Pluto Fast Flyby Mission. (Courtesy of NASA/JPL)
(55K GIF)


This is a painting of the Pluto Express mission scheduled for 2001 to arrive in Pluto 2006-2008. (Courtesy of Pat Rawlings and NASA/JPL)
(239K GIF)


This is showing the sizes of Pluto and Charon. Pluto is a little less than double the size of Charon. (Courtesy of NASA/JPL)
(44K JPG)

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Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

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A Look at Pluto's Atmosphere

It may seem hard to believe that Pluto could have an atmosphere because it is so cold at 39 AU, where Pluto is found, but it does. Because there are times when Pluto is closer to the sun than is Neptune...more

Pluto & Charon, a double planet

Of all the planets and moons in the solar system, Pluto and Charon are the two which resemble each other the most closely. They are almost the same size, and they are very close together. They are so...more

Questions to answer about Pluto

Pluto is so far away, and has never been explored. Questions to answer about Pluto include the following: What are the geologic features of the surface. (pictures of the surface) If there are bare spots,...more

A Look at Pluto's possible Magnetosphere

No one knows whether or not Pluto has a magnetosphere. Scientists were very surprised to find that Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede had a magnetosphere because it is hard to explain how an icy body can develop...more

The Moons of Pluto

Pluto has // Call the moon count function defined in the document head print_moon_count('pluto'); moons. One of the moons is very large. The large moon is named Charon. The other two moons are fairly small....more

Pluto

Pluto is a frigid ball of ice and rock that orbits far from the Sun on the frozen fringes of our Solar System. Considered a planet, though a rather odd one, from its discovery in 1930 until 2006, it was...more

Pluto's Interior

The diagram to the left shows a cutaway of the possible interior structure of Pluto. The composition of Pluto is mostly ice, therefore there is probably a small core of some rocky material buried inside,...more

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