How The Latest Close-Up Pluto Images Shocked NASA Scientists

When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft finally reached Pluto and sent back the first images of the far-flung world, we saw something that absolutely blew our minds. For decades, Pluto had been a planet of paradoxes. Once considered the ninth planet in our solar system, it had been reclassified, debated, and wondered about. The object had remained a blurry dot even in our most powerful telescopes. But now, after more than 80 years of its discovery, we had the first close-up pictures of Pluto. The spacecraft showed us a Pluto filled with geological features that indicated not just a history of activity but the possibility of ongoing dynamism. Towering Mountains, deep valleys, and vast plains suggested a world in the process of changing, not a fossilized relic from the past.

But the most surprising discovery was the strong evidence of a subsurface ocean concealed beneath layers of ice. This finding didn't just make us reconsider Pluto; it threw open new doors of possibility for the existence of life beyond Earth. If a so-called 'dead' planet, at the far reaches of our solar system, could harbor an ocean, what else might we find as we venture deeper into the cosmos?

[TheSecretsoftheUniverse]

So, should Pluto be reclassified as a planet, given the discoveries made by the New Horizons spacecraft? What do you think about it?

[LonesomeGeorge]

I agree. I always thought Pluto should NOT have been reclassified to smaller planet or "not a planet". In school [50s & 60s] we were taught Pluto IS a planet. I also agree with that. It SHOULD be reclassified to "planet" again.

[richardmercer]

For me Pluto has always been a planet, and always will be. Not only because it was a planet during my youth and many years after, but also because I once had the pleasure of meeting its discoverer!

[scoutdogfsr]

Pluto is perhaps the prettiest marble in our system. Just beautiful and mysterious.

[robertfisher]

YES Pluto is a planet, a planet with a big heart ❤️.

[Check.Your.Sources]

Definitely still a planet in my mind… i take Science, and Astronomy quite seriously; and I think they really jumped the gun by changing its classification. The change will probably lead to less primary curriculum on Pluto, and grouping it with other “dwarf planets, ” in textbooks. That would be a shame. I feel like we need less of a focus on Mars, and more focus on the outer solar system.

[tomsmith]

It's always been a planet to a LOT of people.

[j.cr.]

Hell yeah!!! Make Pluto Planet Again!!!!

[robgau]

Everything is alive. Every galaxy and every molecule. The Universe is a living one. And I never took Pluto off of the planet list.

[aileensim]

Since I was a child and was able to study science Pluto is a planet to me.

[transputin]

Question is, will it want to be a planet after all the humiliation?

[The_Infamous_Boogyman]

I knew it. Planet status reinstated in my eyes

[neilmartin]

Raj: Sheldon, I want you to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson from the Hayden Planetarium in New York.

Sheldon Cooper : I'm quite familiar with Dr. Tyson. He's responsible for the demotion of Pluto from planetary status. I liked Pluto. Ergo, I do not like you.
🤣😂😆

[irene_renaissance]

It would be a joyous comeback if IAU considers Pluto to be a planet again.🥰 Really liked this episode! 👍👏❤️

[jagadishreddy]

For Indians, 9 planets from ages as per Hindu mythology

[mattpike]

I think charons gravitational influence has a huge part in plutos possible ocean.

[al-kwaku]

It should be classified as not just a planet(although ive always known it as a planet and it always will be) but a binary planet thanks ti Charon. Our first binary planet of the solar system

[Baldevi]

Awesome episode, loved it! And how timely; was just mentioning about how I simply cannot accept Pluto as a Dwarf Planet, when it is so dynamic etc... this video was posted withing 30 minutes of my comment, so I am smug, lol

[jamesharper]

I would think that Charon's relative size, closeness and speed would create tidal forces that would contribute to Pluto's interior heating.

[edufau]

I grew up and was educated, like so many people, with 9 planets in the Solar System. In 2006 the IAU gave that controversial "gift" to both professionals and amateurs of astronomy... However, they justified the decision. If we change the criterion again, we will probably have to accept the idea of a system not with 9, but with dozens of planets, among them Ceres itself, which orbits a star, has reached hydrostatic equilibrium and has recently been discovered geological activity. I don't know if it would be time to renew all the textbooks again...