Kuiper Belt

Two Los Angeles-area scientists will share the 2012 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for their work studying the Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system, the Kavli Foundation announced Thursday. Michael Brown of Caltech and David Jewitt of UCLA were honored along with Jane Luu of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory “for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system,” according to the foundation . David Jewitt and Luu are credited with spotting the first known object in the Kuiper Belt , an icy, disc-shaped territory beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Astronomers just keep finding more moons around Pluto. They scoped out the first and largest, Charon, in 1976; the fifth, tiny P5, was spotted just this summer by the Hubble Space Telescope. Such discoveries are fascinating for planetary scientists, who are working to understand the complex makeup and movements of objects in the Kuiper Belt, the vast field of orbiting icy rocks beyond Neptune that includes dwarf planets like Pluto as well as smaller chunks of stuff. But finding new moons and other stuff floating around in the outer solar system may create headaches for the team operating NASA's New Horizons spacecraft for the space agency's mission to Pluto.

Dressed as usual in jeans and Velcro-secured sneakers, UCLA astronomer David Jewitt sat at his desk recently and feigned concern: What, exactly, does one wear when accepting gold medals from the king of Norway and a Chinese billionaire-philanthropist? "I'm trying to figure out what a tuxedo is," he said, rolling his eyes. "It's apparently different everywhere. " Fashion isn't familiar territory for Jewitt, 54, an expert on comets and the other small objects zipping through the solar system.

Dressed as usual in jeans and Velcro-secured sneakers, UCLA astronomer David Jewitt sat at his desk recently and feigned concern: What, exactly, does one wear when accepting gold medals from the king of Norway and a Chinese billionaire-philanthropist? "I'm trying to figure out what a tuxedo is," he said, rolling his eyes. "It's apparently different everywhere. " Fashion isn't familiar territory for Jewitt, 54, an expert on comets and the other small objects zipping through the solar system.

A new theory says the solar system's main asteroid belt is littered with icy invaders -- asteroids that seem more like primitive frozen comets than the baked rocks that make up a large majority of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. A theory proposed by scientists in the journal Nature suggests the icy rocks are "contamination" from the Kuiper asteroid belt beyond Neptune.

One of three large objects discovered within the last year in the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system is particularly bizarre: a cigar-shaped body whose long axis is about the same length as Pluto's diameter, Caltech astronomer Michael Brown said. The object, nicknamed Easterbunny, rotates with a four-hour period, much faster than any other large body in the solar system.

A mission to Pluto that has been canceled twice and was not funded in this year's NASA budget appears to be set for liftoff again after a House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA funding approved spending $105 million to keep the mission alive. Although the funding still must be approved by the full Appropriations Committee before going to the House floor, the decision has leaders of the Pluto trip confident that their spacecraft will fly.

Astronomers just keep finding more moons around Pluto. They scoped out the first and largest, Charon, in 1976; the fifth, tiny P5, was spotted just this summer by the Hubble Space Telescope. Such discoveries are fascinating for planetary scientists, who are working to understand the complex makeup and movements of objects in the Kuiper Belt, the vast field of orbiting icy rocks beyond Neptune that includes dwarf planets like Pluto as well as smaller chunks of stuff. But finding new moons and other stuff floating around in the outer solar system may create headaches for the team operating NASA's New Horizons spacecraft for the space agency's mission to Pluto.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fifth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto, a surprise because they did not expect such a complex system surrounding such a small body. The new moon, designated P5, is thought to be irregular in shape and six to 15 miles across. It is in a 59,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto, which was demoted from its status as a full-fledged planet in 2006 following the discovery of other similar-sized bodies in the Kuiper belt.

Two Caltech astronomers using an aging telescope to scan the fringes of the solar system have found an object half the size of Pluto--a distant, icy sphere they have dubbed Quaoar. The scientists say the dark, reddish object is the largest body discovered in the solar system since Pluto was spotted in 1930. Although precise measurements are impossible to make from Earth, Quaoar (pronounced KWA-wahr) is estimated to be about 780 miles across, the size of Pluto's moon, Charon.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fifth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto, a surprise because they did not expect such a complex system surrounding such a small body. The new moon, designated P5, is thought to be irregular in shape and six to 15 miles across. It is in a 59,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto, which was demoted from its status as a full-fledged planet in 2006 following the discovery of other similar-sized bodies in the Kuiper belt.

Two Los Angeles-area scientists will share the 2012 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for their work studying the Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system, the Kavli Foundation announced Thursday. Michael Brown of Caltech and David Jewitt of UCLA were honored along with Jane Luu of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory “for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system,” according to the foundation . David Jewitt and Luu are credited with spotting the first known object in the Kuiper Belt , an icy, disc-shaped territory beyond the orbit of Neptune.

NASA's newest mapping mission, designed to sniff out the dimmest residents of our neighborhood in space, launched successfully this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Delta II rocket carrying the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft lifted off at 6:09 a.m., Pacific time. About eight minutes later, the 1,485-pound WISE craft entered space. About 52 minutes into the flight, the craft's second-stage rocket ignited again, placing the vehicle into its assigned polar orbit 326 miles above the Earth.

A new theory says the solar system's main asteroid belt is littered with icy invaders -- asteroids that seem more like primitive frozen comets than the baked rocks that make up a large majority of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. A theory proposed by scientists in the journal Nature suggests the icy rocks are "contamination" from the Kuiper asteroid belt beyond Neptune.

Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh could not have known how fitting it was to call his new planet Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. In the 76 years since Tombaugh discovered the solar system's ninth planet, Pluto has remained an enigma -- a shrouded phantom lurking in the dark recesses of the solar system. Three billion miles from Earth, the diminutive ice world is so distant that even the Hubble Space Telescope can produce only a hazy image of an object resembling a chewed-on tennis ball.

Pluto has three moons, not one, new images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest. Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978. The new moons, more than twice as far away as Charon and only a fraction as bright, were spotted by Hubble in May. Although the observations have to be confirmed, members of the team that discovered the satellites said Monday that they felt confident about their data.

Re "Longest-Serving NASA Chief to Quit," Oct. 18: Let us hope that whoever succeeds outgoing NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin will continue to pursue interplanetary space exploration with the same enthusiasm that he did. Specifically, NASA should commit itself to sending a man-made probe on a fly-by mission to Pluto. The importance of exploring Pluto cannot be overstated. It is the only planet in our solar system discovered by an American, but it remains the only one not yet visited by a U.S. spacecraft.

One of three large objects discovered within the last year in the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system is particularly bizarre: a cigar-shaped body whose long axis is about the same length as Pluto's diameter, Caltech astronomer Michael Brown said. The object, nicknamed Easterbunny, rotates with a four-hour period, much faster than any other large body in the solar system.