Planets, moons and other celestial bodies are named according to rules established by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Pluto did not have any rules for naming surface features because, ...

No more pussyfooting around. It's official: Pluto has 14 new place names. Most we suspected would be there, but a few are new. Pluto's "heart" now bears the name of American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, ...

The New Horizons flyby of Pluto and its satellites returned a scientific treasure trove of information about these distant and surprisingly complex worlds, showing a vast nitrogen glacier as well as ...

Not much to name in our current view of Pluto (left). That will all change during the July flyby when New Horizons will image features down to 1 mile (1.6 km) across. Credit: NASA Here's your chance ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Pluto is considered a planetary oddball -- a tiny, frozen world so unlike the other planets that some astronomers doubt whether it even deserves to be called a planet.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on ...