Kuiper Belt

NASA's New Horizons probe has awakened after 321 days of hibernation, resuming its extended mission to study the Sun's interactions in the outer solar system. The spacecraft, which previously explored Pluto in 2015 and Arrokoth in 2019, is currently 64.04 astronomical units from Earth and will continue its journey until potentially exiting the Kuiper Belt by 2028-2029. NASA plans to keep it in hibernation mode to conserve resources unless a new Kuiper Belt target is identified.

Astronomers have been searching for a potential hidden giant planet beyond Neptune, as unusual orbits of distant Kuiper Belt objects initially supported the Planet Nine theory. Recent discoveries, however, show more stable motion than expected, challenging the idea and suggesting Planet Nine might be much farther away than previously thought.

Astronomers have detected a thin atmosphere around a tiny icy world beyond Pluto, believed to be the solar system's smallest object with a clearly detected global atmosphere. The finding offers fresh insight into the solar system's farthest objects in the Kuiper Belt. Further observations are needed to verify the makeup of the atmosphere.

A tiny world at the edge of our solar system has developed a mysterious atmosphere, and scientists are unsure how it formed. The planet is surrounded by a hazy purple atmosphere and white dots in a line behind it. This phenomenon is currently not understood.