Fact Of The Post
Pluto has a heart shape on its surface
Pluto, the ninth planet of the classical solar system was, until 2015, largely a mystery—a few pixels 3.6 billion miles from the Sun.
When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft arrived at the diminutive object in the far-off Kuiper Belt, planetary scientists discovered a geologist's Disneyland—a mind-blowing world of steep mountains, smooth young surfaces, ice dunes, and a stunning blue atmosphere.
Here, we are going to read the top ten facts about pluto that you should know below.
Pluto Facts
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1. It's a Bizarre orbit and rotation is a mystery.
The traditional classroom solar system model of a light bulb as the Sun and planets on wires extending from it represents a nice flat orbital plane known as the ecliptic, and for most of the solar system, that's pretty close to the truth.
But not for Pluto, which has a 17-degree inclination relative to the ecliptic. Moreover, like Uranus, its rotation is tipped on its side, and it rotates backward (east to west). No one knows why, according to Runyon. "It's probably the result of an ancient impact," he says. "One not strong enough to disrupt planet but enough to tip on its side. This might have been the Charon-forming impact, which would be similar to how our moon is formed."
2. New Horizons, the first vessel devoted to studying Pluto’s environment, is the size of a grand piano.
The New Horizons probe cost $700 million yet, weighing in at 1,000 pounds, is only the size of a grand piano. It completed the nine-year, 3-billion-mile journey to Pluto on Tuesday morning, whizzing about 6,000 ft. from the dwarf planet at 31,000 mph, and snapping the closest pictures of Pluto to date as it passed.
3. Pluto was first discovered by a young research assistant in 1930.
Photographic evidence of the former ninth planet was first sighted by 24-year-old research assistant Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. Tombaugh’s ashes are aboard the New Horizons spacecraft that passed by Pluto on Tuesday. Astronomer Percival Lowell predicted Pluto’s existence 15 years before Tombaugh’s discovery–even charting its approximate location based on the irregularity of Neptune’s orbit.
4. Pluto has a heart shape on its surface.
Images released on Tuesday by NASA show a heart shape that measures approximately 1,000 miles across. As NASA reports, “much of the heart’s interior appears remarkably featureless–possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes.”
5. 248 years of Earth is equal to 1 year of Pluto.
At 1473 miles in diameter—about half the width of the United States—Pluto is the smallest of the nine classical planets and the largest discovered "trans-Neptunian object" (i.e., an object beyond the planet Neptune). As could be expected, it is cold on Pluto's surface: around -375°F. Its gravity is about 1/15 that of Earth. It has five moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx. Charon is the largest of the moons by far, with a diameter about half that of Pluto. It takes about 248 Earth years for Pluto to circle the Sun, and during that time, its highly elliptical orbit takes it as far as 49 astronomical units from our star, and as close as 30.
6. The Disney Dog is connected to the planet, Pluto.
Pluto the planet was discovered on February 18, 1930, by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was named later that year by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old girl in England. She first learned of the new, nameless planet from her grandfather, who mentioned it while reading the newspaper. Burney was interested in Greek and Roman mythology at the time, and she immediately suggested Pluto.
Her grandfather was impressed and mentioned it in a note to a friend of his, who taught astronomy at Oxford. The astronomy professor passed the word to Lowell Observatory, and the astronomers there took an immediate liking to it. It helped that the first two letters of Pluto are the initials of the observatory's (then dead) founder, Percival Lowell.
Note that Burney did not get the name from the Disney dog. Just the opposite: The dog, which premiered the same year as Pluto was discovered, was likely named by Walt to ride the planet's publicity wave. Scientists and cartoonists alike have yet to explain how the then-unseen planet and dog ended up being more or less the same color.
7. Scientists discovered the Solar System’s third zone because of Pluto.
While Pluto’s frigid neighbors are responsible for its solar system downfall, they are also what make the New Horizons vision so compelling.
As Jeff Moore at NASA told TIME, “Pluto may be the star witness to the whole third zone of the solar system.” Before the discovery of the Kuiper Belt, the solar system was believed to be comprised of two zones: the inner zone, containing the rocky planets from Mercury to Mars, and the outer zone, containing the gas giants from Jupiter to Neptune. However, Pluto exposed astronomers to our solar system’s third zone, which Moore referred to as a “vast realm of ice worlds.”
8. An 11-year-old girl gave Pluto its name.
When Venetia Burney’s grandfather told her the news of the newly discovered planet, she proposed the name, Pluto, after the Roman god of the Underworld. It seemed fitting, for, after all, Pluto the planet, like God, sat at the far reaches of the solar system.
Her grandfather was taken by the name and suggested it to a friend–conveniently an astronomy professor at Oxford University. Astronomers were particularly keen on Pluto because the first two letters of the word are Percival Lowell’s initials.
9. Pluto is just the tip of the iceberg.
After New Horizons passes Pluto on Tuesday, it’ll continue traveling the Kuiper Belt, possibly making contact with another, smaller Kuiper Belt object (KBO) in 2018 or 2019. Pluto is just the beginning.
10. A Pluto system space elevator is technically possible.
Space elevators are a science fiction staple, and advances in carbon nanotubes have made their prospects, if not likely, then certainly possible. The idea is to bring a large object such as an asteroid into a geostationary orbit at Earth's equator, and essentially connect that object and the Earth with a cable or structure. You could then lift things into orbit without the need for rockets. According to Runyon, the unique orbital characteristics of Pluto and Charon create interesting opportunities for the very, very distant future of engineering.
The two worlds are tidally locked. Charon's orbit is precisely the same duration as Pluto's rotation, meaning that if you stood on Pluto's surface, the moon would hover over the same spot, never rising or setting. "Because they are binary, tidally locked, literally orbiting each other in a perfect circle, you could build a space elevator that goes from one planet to the other, from Pluto to Charon. And it would touch the ground in both places, physically linking them. And you could literally climb a ladder from one to the other."
11. Pluto has five known moons.
The moons are Charon (discovered in 1978,), Hydra and Nix (both discovered in 2005), Kerberos originally P4 (discovered 2011), and Styx originally P5 (discovered 2012) official designations S/2011 (134340) 1 and S/2012 (134340) 1.
Pluto Questions And Answers 😲😲😵
What is Pluto known for?
Pluto is the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, discovered in 1930. It was thought to be the 9th planet of our system for 75 years until the discovery of Eris and other similar objects that led to its demotion from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
Can you live on Pluto?
As such, there is simply no way life could survive on the surface of Pluto. Between the extreme cold, low atmospheric pressure, and constant changes in the atmosphere, no known organism could survive.
How long is a day on Pluto?
6.4 Earth days
Pluto's day is 6.4 Earth days long.
What is Pluto's real name?
Rover
His birthday is September 5, 1930. Pluto's original name was Rover.
Why is Pluto red?
The bright, red regions were thought to be caused by molecules known as tholins, which are organic compounds that rain down onto the surface after cosmic rays or ultraviolet light interact with the methane in Pluto's surface and atmosphere.
Is there water on Pluto?
There is the fact that some of Pluto's surface is composed of water ice, which is slightly less dense than nitrogen ice. As Pluto's glaciers carve the surface, some of those water-ice “rocks” will rise up through the glacier and float like icebergs.
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