BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire.
This week the dwarf planet, Pluto.
It would be an ideal week to view Pluto from Earth, due to its position in its orbit. But sadly, it's too far away, and too small for casual viewing.
On Tuesday, July 23, Pluto will be ‘in opposition’ to Earth, according to McGuire. That means that “the sun, Earth, and Pluto are in a line”, said McGuire.
“Meaning that Pluto is on our side of the sun directly opposite of the Earth. So they're in alignment with Earth and Pluto on the same side of the sun.”
Pluto is so small and far away that it is very hard to see even under optimal conditions with a good telescope. But NASA sent a space probe to fly by Pluto.
The New Horizons spacecraft sailed past Pluto in 2015 as part of NASA’s New Frontiers mission. It returned excellent photos of Pluto after about 10 years of travel through our solar system to reach the distant dwarf planet.