In response to some of the traffic on the discuss-hst newsgroup, I've compiled a list of questions and have provided answers to those that are relevant to understanding current research on Pluto and what HST observations can do to further our knowledge. (12/95)
We've progressed to the stage of planning an observation of Pluto. Even something seemingly as simple as "just take a picture" involves quite a few details. (1/96)
The observations have now been scheduled, expected on 1996 March 4, early in the morning. There are a few details that you might be interested in concerning what happened during the scheduling. (3/4/96)
To get ready for the new Pluto images, I've been working like crazy to get the past observations analyzed. Here are some behind the scenes thoughts and descriptions of the process and analysis done up to the eve of the new Pluto data. (3/4/96)
I went to New Mexico State University to give the first public airing of my new Pluto images. You might be interested to read about what happened as well as some thoughts on what it's like to do scientific research. (3/8/96)
This past week has been very exciting. I went to NASA Headquarters to present results of our HST imaging of Pluto. We will compare our new data to these results to look for changes. Just before the press conference there was a lot of nonsense flying around about whether Pluto should still be considered a planet or not. Of course, Pluto is a planet and I've written up some of my thoughts on the matter. (3/10/96)
The new images of Pluto are in! Follow along with to see how I worked through the analysis of these images. (4/10/96)
There is a large amount of information on the WWW about Pluto. Some of it is good and, well, some is not so good.
Some information does exist in popular books and magazines about Pluto but you have to look pretty hard. These references cover some research results about Pluto.
Marc W. Buie, Southwest Research Institute
