This article is from the series "The Solar System" where we will be sharing interesting facts about everything, from the origin of the Solar System to the mysterious massive planet 9. Please follow our social media accounts to get regular updates.
Pluto ( ♇ , प्लूटो ) was once a planet but thanks to the discovery of Eris, it was demoted to the status of a dwarf planet. This tiny ball in space was just recently pictured from a short distance for the first time. This Flyby mission revealed many characteristics of this demoted planet.
Here are some interesting facts about the ex-planet with a heart, Pluto:
Pluto is the largest known Plutoid
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Tombaugh’s task was to systematically image the night sky in pairs of photographs, then examine each pair and determine whether any objects had shifted position. After the observatory obtained confirmatory photographs, news of the discovery was telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory on March 13, 1930
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The final choice of name was helped in part by the fact that the first two letters of Pluto. These are the initials of Percival Lowell, a wealthy Bostonian who had founded Lowell Observatory and started the search of the ninth planet in 1909
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In 1930, Walt Disney was apparently inspired by it when he introduced for Mickey Mouse a canine companion named Pluto. Although Disney animator Ben Sharpsteen could not confirm why the name was given
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Its orbital characteristics are substantially different from those of the planets. Planets nearly circular orbits around the Sun close to a flat reference plane called the ecliptic. Pluto’s orbit is moderately inclined relative to the ecliptic (over 17°) and moderately Eccentric
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Pluto’s surface gravity is 0.063 G compared to 1 G for Earth
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Despite Pluto’s orbit appearing to cross that of Neptune when viewed from directly above, the two objects’ orbits are aligned so that they can never collide or even approach closely. The two orbits do not intersect
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On July 29, 2005, astronomers at Caltech announced the discovery of a new trans-Neptunian object, Eris, which substantially has more mass than Pluto. Others in the astronomical community considered this discovery the strongest argument for reclassifying Pluto as a Minor Planet
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Its mass is substantially less than the combined mass of the other objects in its orbit: 0.07 times. In contrast, Earth is 1.7 million times the remaining mass in its orbit (excluding the moon)
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Had Pluto been included upon its discovery in 1930, it would have likely been designated 1164, following 1163 Saga, which was discovered a month earlier
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According to a paper released from the University of Arizona, this could be caused by masses of frozen nitrogen building up in shadowed areas of the dwarf planet Pluto. These masses would cause the body to reorient itself, leading to its unusual axial tilt of 120°
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Pluto has no magnetic field
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Pluto’s atmosphere is divided into roughly 20 regularly spaced haze layers up to 150 km high. These are thought to be the result of pressure waves created by airflow across Pluto’s mountains
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In 2007, observations by the Gemini Observatory of patches of ammonia hydrates and water crystals on the surface of Charon suggested the presence of active cryo-geysers
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The scientific goals of New Horizons were to characterize the global geology and Morphology of Pluto and its moon Charon, map their surface composition, and analyze Pluto’s atmosphere
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Source: Wikipedia
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As usual, that was a very informative article. Thanks and keep it up, lily.
Thanks