mercury

23 – Planet X

The theory of a large planet lurking somewhere far past Neptune has been around for a while. But just recently scientists have found some real evidence for its existence. They say there are objects in the Kuiper Belt that wouldn’t move they way they do if that planet was not there. The alleged planet is so far away that we can’t see it from here, so who knows how long it will be until we can capture a picture of it, assuming it even exists!

Real or not, how do you think Pluto feels about everyone already calling this mysterious object a planet? 😉

22 – New Horizons

NASA’s New Horizons craft has been travelling for 9 years and will be arriving tomorrow (7/14/15) at Pluto! NH will just be doing a fly by before it heads further out into the Kuiper Belt. Int he mean time, we have been getting some WONDERFUL shots of Pluto, and finally figuring out he has a bit of a reddish color (previously I colored him purple in the comic. That’s changed now).

This is super exciting and I hope you are all watching New Horizons as closely as I am!

6 – Angry Sun

I’ve mentioned once before that our sun is entering its Solar Maximum, meaning its highest activity in its 11 year cycle. In astronomical news right now we’re hearing a LOT about a sunspot that is much larger than Earth that is generating some pretty massive solar flares and has the possibility of generating powerful solar storms. So far, none are headed in our direction. But go HERE to read and watch a short video about the activity on the surface of our sun right now.

And if you’ve ever seen a video of the Sun unleashing a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection), you’ll see that the sun always has ways of reminding us of its power.

Oh, if you’ve never seen one, watch this: