Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930, by the American astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Author Archives: M. Özgür Nevres
These Photos Show the Incredible Power of Earthquakes
On the early morning of February 6, 2023, two consecutive devastating earthquakes (with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.7 on the Richter scale, just nine hours apart in the same area) hit Turkey and Syria, killing tens of thousands and injuring hundreds of thousands of people.
Moons of the Solar System: The Complete List [2023 Update]
As of February 2023, there are 224 confirmed moons in our solar system. A moon, also known as a natural satellite, is a celestial body that orbits planets, and asteroids. This number includes only the planetary moons. Here is the list of the known planetary moons in the solar system.
Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Ohm are in a car [Joke about physics]
Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and Georg Ohm are in a car and they get pulled over. Heisenberg is the driver and the police officer asks him: “Do you know how fast you were going?”
32 Largest Deserts on Earth
Here are the top 32 largest deserts in the world. The list also includes cold deserts.
Apollo 1 Tragedy [January 27, 1967]
On January 27, 1967, three NASA astronauts, Roger B. Chaffee (b. February 15, 1935), Virgil I. Grissom (b. April 3, 1926), and Edward H. White II (b. November 14, 1930) died when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. The three men inside perished despite the best …
Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004
On January 15, 2004, NASA’s Opportunity rover landed on Mars (in Meridiani Planum), three weeks after its twin, Spirit, touched down on the other side of the red planet on January 4.
The first Uranus flyby was performed by Voyager 2 on January 24, 1986
On January 24, 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft performed the first (and as of 2023, the only so far) Uranus flyby in the history of space exploration.
Neptune became the outermost planet on January 21, 1979
On January 21, 1979, a rare phenomenon occurred in our solar system: Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, took over Pluto and became the outermost planet as Pluto moved closer due to their highly elliptical orbits. Pluto was still a planet back then (good old days!).
The first soft landing on Titan was performed by the Huygens spacecraft on January 14, 2005
![Huygens spacecraft on Titan [artist concept]](https://cdn-0.ourplnt.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Huygens-spacecraft-on-Titan-artist-concept.jpg)
On January 14, 2005, the Huygens spacecraft, the atmospheric entry robotic probe part of the Casini-Huygens mission performed the first soft landing on Titan. As of 2023, it is the only one accomplished in the outer Solar System and was also the first on a moon other than Earth’s, and the most distant landing ever.
