#dwarfplanet

[itsfullofstars]

SOURCE: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center https://flic.kr/p/2rp9VTZ

[the-fact-site]

Pluto didn’t even get to complete a full revolution around the Sun before it lost its classification as a planet. #FACT

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

This shot of Pluto, taken by New Horizons just minutes after closest approach

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory /Southwest Research Institute/Ian Regan.

[nasa]

Solar System: 10 Things to Know This Week

Need some space? 

Here are 10 perspective-building images for your computer desktop and mobile device wallpaper. 

These are all real images, sent very recently by our planetary missions throughout the solar system. 

1. Our Sun

Warm up with this view from our Solar Dynamics Observatory showing active regions on the Sun in October 2017. They were observed in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light that reveals plasma heated to over a million degrees. 

Downloads  Desktop: 1280 x 800 | 1600 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 Mobile: 1440 x 2560 | 1080 x 1920 | 750 x 1334

2. Jupiter Up-Close

This series of enhanced-color images shows Jupiter up close and personal, as our Juno spacecraft performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant planet on Sept. 1, 2017. 

Downloads Desktop: 1280 x 800 | 1600 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 Mobile: 1440 x 2560  | 1080 x 1920 | 750 x 1334

3. Saturn’s and Its Rings

With this mosaic from Oct. 28, 2016, our Cassini spacecraft captured one of its last looks at Saturn and its main rings from a distance. 

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4. Gale Crater on Mars

This look from our Curiosity Mars rover includes several geological layers in Gale crater to be examined by the mission, as well as the higher reaches of Mount Sharp beyond. The redder rocks of the foreground are part of the Murray formation. Pale gray rocks in the middle distance of the right half of the image are in the Clay Unit. A band between those terrains is "Vera Rubin Ridge," where the rover is working currently. The view combines six images taken with the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Jan. 24, 2017. 

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5. Sliver of Saturn

Cassini peers toward a sliver of Saturn's sunlit atmosphere while the icy rings stretch across the foreground as a dark band on March 31, 2017. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 7 degrees below the ring plane. 

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6. Dwarf Planet Ceres 

This image of the limb of dwarf planet Ceres shows a section of the northern hemisphere, as seen by our Dawn mission. Prominently featured is Occator Crater, home of Ceres' intriguing "bright spots." The latest research suggests that the bright material in this crater is comprised of salts left behind after a briny liquid emerged from below. 

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7. Martian Crater

This image from our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a crater in the region with the most impressive known gully activity in Mars' northern hemisphere. Gullies are active in the winter due to carbon dioxide frost, but northern winters are shorter and warmer than southern winters, so there is less frost and less gully activity. 

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8. Dynamic Storm on Jupiter

A dynamic storm at the southern edge of Jupiter's northern polar region dominates this Jovian cloudscape, courtesy of Juno. This storm is a long-lived anticyclonic oval named North North Temperate Little Red Spot 1. Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager. 

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9. Rings Beyond Saturn’s Sunlit Horizon 

This false-color view from the Cassini spacecraft gazes toward the rings beyond Saturn's sunlit horizon. Along the limb (the planet's edge) at left can be seen a thin, detached haze. 

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10. Saturn’s Ocean-Bearing Moon Enceladus

Saturn's active, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus sinks behind the giant planet in a farewell portrait from Cassini. This view of Enceladus was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 13, 2017. It is among the last images Cassini sent back before its mission came to an end on Sept. 15, after nearly 20 years in space. 

Downloads Desktop: 1280 x 800 | 1600 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 Mobile: 1440 x 2560 | 1080 x 1920 | 750 x 1334

Applying Wallpaper: 1. Click on the screen resolution you would like to use. 2. Right-click on the image (control-click on a Mac) and select the option 'Set the Background' or 'Set as Wallpaper' (or similar).

Places to look for more of our pictures include solarsystem.nasa.gov/galleries, images.nasa.gov and www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

[through-fire-space-and-stars]

[ pluto ]

These silver chains

that binds my flesh and bones,

The pearly tears

that falls from my eyes,

The glittering stitches

and the golden scars on my skin,

Are nothing compared

to the wishes of my heart

to come back to you.

I wish to feel your

porcelain skin,

full of the names

of the flora that you adore.

(For one last time.)

I wish to taste the

sweet nectar of the drink

you mixed from your own

pomegranate garden.

(For one last time.)

I wish to smell the

flowers you grow and

adorn yourself with.

(For one last time.)

I wish to hear the

songs you hum as you

danced across the fields.

(For one last time.)

I wish to see your

warm brown eyes,

full of joy and innocence.

(For one last time.)

But I know those wishes

will never come true.

But still, for one last time,

Before I am forgotten,

I hoped for one of my wishes

to come true.

My wish for you to forget me

and live forever surrounded

by flowers like you.

- Asteria, Swinging Around the Cosmos

[ericnyquist]

New art for @quantamag Thanks to AD @theoperatingsystem Troubled Times for Alternatives to Einstein’s Theory of Gravity By #KATIAMOSKVITCH ― New observations of extreme astrophysical systems have “brutally and pitilessly murdered” attempts to replace Einstein’s general theory of relativity. #planet #ericnyquist #dwarfplanet #pulsar #space #science

[mihaicotiga]

Untitled. Pluto. Space exploration series. Oil, enamel, spray, pastel and photo on canvas. #newseries #abstractpainting #abstractexpressionism #abstract #contemporarypainting #painting #art #contrast #instaart #mihaicotiga #romanianartist #gestural #gesturalabstraction #light #existence #texture #spaceexploration #spacex #pluto #dwarfplanet

[planetsthatarefat]

This is Eris, one of our wonderful dwarf planets.  Eris is actually larger than Pluto, and this caused for the status of Pluto to be looked into, eventually causing a demotion.  Eris has one moon called Dysnomia, which is very small.  Ers itself is still smaller than our moon, though.