Don't snicker when you learn...

that there's a mysterious spot on Uranus.

Both very cool and very hot...

Cooling Lava Flow Spotted on Venus

Where in the solar system...

are the many and various spacecraft that have been hurled from Earth?  The Planetary Society provides a convenient summary:  What's Up in the Solar System in October 2010.

Something to consider...

when founding your dynasty: Orange Dwarf Star Confirmed to be On Collision Course With Earth. We're all gonna die:

"Our solar system's 'hood may get a bit rougher sometime during the next 1.5 million years. An astronomer has given an 86 percent chance for a neighboring star to smash into the frozen Oort Cloud surrounding the outskirts of the solar system, and may scatter some comets toward Earth."

More here. Stay calm. Don't panic.

Happy birthday Pluto...

discovered 80 years ago on this date. Earlier this month NASA released the most detailed images of the distant and diminutive body ever acquired (click to enlarge).

While it's no longer classified as a planet, it is the largest object in the Kuiper belt. Learn more about Pluto here. And here's a previous related post.

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Closest approach of Mars...

to Earth occurs today, when our neighbor in the solar system will be only 61.7 million miles (99 million km) away, closer than it will be again until March 2014.
Peaking at magnitude -1.3, Mars will outshine all stars and other planets (except Sirius and Jupiter). Use the star chart provided above (click to enlarge) to find the red planet in the early evening night sky. Read more here about this opportunity to observe Mars up close.

Image credit: Star chart courtesy Spaceweather.com.

Diamond oceans...

possible on Uranus and Neptune, with "solid diamond icebergs."

This doesn't bode well for the hyper-inflated diamond market on Earth. Watch out De Beers.

RELATED: Makes this one seem pretty puny.

Extending the geologic time scale...

to the solar system: NASA Scientists Classify the Time Before Earth Existed - the Chaotian Era.

Indeed, the Promethean Period has a certain ring to it.

Off by ~0.02 percent!

Age of Solar System Needs to Be Recalculated

Revisions to the solar system...

explained in an image gallery. Yep, this isn't the same neighborhood that I grew up with in grade school.

Pluto discovered...

on this date in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh (the planet, not Mickey's dog.) If you've kept up with recent events you know that this distant and diminutive body in the solar system has been reclassified by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 to "dwarf planet" status.

I concur with the new ranking despite the upset Mr. Tombaugh's surviving relatives may feel due to this abrupt demotion. Simply put, if Pluto were discovered today it would certainly not be defined as a planet by the IAU. Remember, science is a continuous process of gathering new knowledge and reevaluating and reorganizing definitions and relationships.

Six mysteries of...

the solar system. Learn more about our neighborhood in space.

Hat tip: CN