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Learn fun and interesting facts about Pluto, the ninth-largest and tenth most massive object orbiting the Sun. Find out how Pluto was discovered, named, declassified, and reclassified, and what makes it different from other planets and dwarf planets.
Jun 13, 2024 · Learn fun facts about Pluto, the dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, and its moon Charon. Find out how Pluto is different from other planets and dwarf planets, and see images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.
- Pluto was named by Venetia Burney an 11 year old girl from Oxford, England.
- Pluto is considered to be the largest dwarf planet discovered so far.
- The dwarf planet Pluto is named for the ancient Roman god of the underworld.
- It is said that Pluto was the son of Saturn, who, along with his three brothers, ruled the world. Jupiter controlled the sky, Neptune controlled the sea, and Pluto controlled the underworld.
Pluto orbits, or travels around, the Sun at an average distance of about 3.6 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers). It is usually farther from the Sun than the planet Neptune. However, Pluto’s path around the Sun is shaped like an oval, not a circle.
- Overview
- Characteristics
- Discovery
- Classification
- Naming
- Name
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Solar System. Its formal name is 134340 Pluto. The dwarf planet is the ninth-largest body that moves around the Sun. At first, Pluto was called a planet. Now, it is the largest body in the Kuiper belt.
Like other members of the Kuiper belt, Pluto is mainly made of rock and ice. It is quite small. It is about a fifth () of the weight of the Earth's Moon. It is only a third () its volume. It has an odd orbit and this orbit is very sloped. It takes Pluto to 30 to 49 AU (4.47.4 billion km) from the Sun. This causes Pluto to sometimes go closer to the...
Since it was discovered in 1930, Pluto was thought to be the Solar System's ninth planet. In the late 1970s, the minor planet 2060 Chiron was found and people learned that Pluto had a small size. Later, in the early 21st century, the scattered disc object Eris and other objects like Pluto were discovered. Eris was initially believed to be 27% large...
Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are sometimes called a \"binary system\". This is because the barycentre of their orbits does not lie within them. The IAU has yet to formalise a definition for binary dwarf planets, and until it passes such a ruling, they classify Charon as a moon of Pluto. Pluto has four known smaller moons, Nix and Hydra, disc...
The discovery made headlines across the Earth. The Lowell Observatory had the right to name the new object. They received over 1000 suggestions from all over the world. Some proposed Atlas as the name. Others wanted to name it Zymal. Tombaugh urged Slipher to suggest a name for the new object quickly before someone else did. Constance Lowell propos...
The name Pluto was proposed by Venetia Burney (later Venetia Phair). She was an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England then. Venetia was interested in classical mythology and astronomy. The name was of the Roman god of the underworld. She thought it was a good name for a dark and cold world. She suggested it when she was talking with her grandfa...
20 Pluto Facts for Kids. In August 2006, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) defined what a planet is. Because Pluto didn’t meet one of the three conditions to be considered a planet it was reclassified as a dwarf planet. The dwarf planet Pluto formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
Aug 4, 2015 · Learn about Pluto's discovery, name, size, moons, orbit, temperature and more from NASA's article for grades 5-8. Find out how NASA explored Pluto with Hubble and New Horizons spacecraft.
