Kuiper Belt object (KBO) tagged posts

Outer reaches of solar system could harbor another planet–or evidence modifying laws of gravity. A pair of theoretical physicists are reporting that the same observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies.

Researchers Harsh Mathur, a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, and Katherine Brown, an associate professor of physics at Hamilton College, made the assertion after studying the effect the Milky Way galaxy would have on objects in the outer solar syst...

Partly Cloudy on Pluto? Pluto’s present, hazy atmosphere is almost entirely free of clouds, though scientists from NASA’s New Horizons mission have identified some cloud candidates after examining images taken by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager and Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera, during the spacecraft’s July 2015 flight through the Pluto system. All are low-lying, isolated small features–no broad cloud decks or fields — and while none of the features can be confirmed with stereo imaging, scientists say they are suggestive of possible, rare condensation clouds. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The next target for NASA’s New Horizons mission – which made a historic flight past Pluto in July 2015 – apparently bears a colorful resemblance to its famous, main destination...