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Pluto seen from the New Horizons spacecraft in a flyby. The heart-shaped ice zone was named Tombaugh Regio, named after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet in 1930. (Courtesy of New Horizons / NASA)
Is Pluto a planet?
This debate has continued since the ninth planet of the sun was renamed the dwarf planet in 2006.
On Friday, new Mexicans will have the opportunity to see Pluto closely at the Pluto Palooza ABQ at the Museum of Natural History and Science in New Mexico.
Scientists and engineers from the New Horizons Mission in Pluto will talk about what has been learned about Pluto and its moon, Charon, and the next target for the current mission in the Kuiper Belt.
"They waited months for images and video," says Jayne C. Aubele, an adult education / geologist at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. "Scientists have a lot of information on the geology of the planet Pluto. There are mountains and ice, and the planet is not what we all designed.
In fact, a photo of Pluto shows the outline of what looks like a heart of ice. This was named Tombaugh Regio, after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet.
Aubele says the museum worked with NASA before, on a March event years ago.
The newly discovered dunes on Pluto tell us that the geology and atmosphere of the dwarf planet are much more dynamic than expected, with the wind of its thin and multilayered atmosphere helping to shape the landscape. (Courtesy of New Horizons / NASA)
The museum is one of the few places where NASA chose to present this information.
Aubele says that New Mexico was chosen because of the links between Pluto and Tombaugh.
Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. It was the first object found in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt.
At the time of the discovery, Pluto was considered a planet, but was later reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Tombaugh spent much of his life in New Mexico – he worked at White Sands Missile Range in the 1950s and taught astronomy at New Mexico State University until his retirement in 1973.
He lived in Las Cruces until his death in 1997.
"Some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes are on the New Horizon spacecraft," says Aubele. "So he had to" visit "his planet. He was alive when the mission was planned and knew it was ok, but he died just before launch. It was one of the fastest spacecraft in history, and it took nine and a half years to get to Pluto after launch.
Aubele says that Pluto was the last of the classic planets in our solar system to be seen up close.
"With the incredible views of Pluto, our generation is now the first human to have seen close-up views of all the classic bodies in our system," says Aubele. "No other human generation before us or after us will look in the same way the beauty of the other bodies of our system."
In 2010, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Pluto's discovery, the Legislative Assembly of New Mexico adopted a memorial on February 18.
In addition to the conference, Aubele says family-friendly events will be part of the event.
On Saturday, mission scientists will participate in a NM-PBS science café hosted at NMMNHS and coordinated by New Mexico PBS. Registration for this event is by NM-PBS; Contact Rose Poston at [email protected] for more information.
Also, from 1pm to 5pm Saturday, NASA educator Shirley Greene and New Horizons researchers, in association with the museum, will host a free workshop for formal and informal science teachers. New Mexico Scientific Standards.
Visit nmnaturalhistory.org for more information and contact [email protected] to register.
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