Pluto was first discovered in 1930 by an astronomer called Clyde Tombaugh. Pluto is a dwarf planet that lies at the very edge of our solar system. It takes the sunlight five and a half hours to reach Pluto, which is a lot, considering it only takes eight minutes to reach Earth. Pluto is only about two-thirds the size of our moon and is extremely cold, it is so cold that nitrogen and oxygen is frozen solid, its surface temperature is -233°C, so we’ve got no chance of ever living there!It takes 247.9 Earth years for Pluto to orbit the Sun once, which sometimes takes it inside Neptune’s orbit. Pluto makes a full rotation every 6.8 days. It is approximately 5.9 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles) away from the Sun. It has a diameter of 2,360 kilometres.
Pluto has a moon called Charon, which is roughly one half of the size of Pluto. Well, it also has two other moons which were discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope, these moons are called Nix and Hydra; these are named after the Greek goddess of darkness (Nyx) and a nine-headed serpent that in Greek mythology guards the underworld.
I’ve been careful to not call Pluto a planet during this because Pluto is in fact not a planet. It was decided back in August 2006 when 2,500 scientists researched the official meaning of the word “Planet”. The researchers said “Pluto failed to dominate its orbit around the Sun in the same way as the other planets”. With the technology out there today, they have calculated the size of Pluto and say it’s not big enough to be called a planet, therefore it is known as a dwarf planet. If the vote went the other way that would mean there would be an extra 44 “planets” out there that have been discovered so far. That’d be hard to learn for school! So yeah, with Pluto being a dwarf planet, all that really means is in books, Pluto will not be categorised as one of the main planets in the solar system.
Here’s the exact definition of a Planet, which was agreed by the 2,500 scientists at that meeting:
• it must be in orbit around the Sun
• it must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape
• it has cleared its orbit of other objects
Well that’s all you need to know about Pluto, apart from it’s also shares its name with a Disney dog. I hope you found the information you were looking for :)
This is quite an eye opener. Lovely article. I will come back again.
ReplyDeletePluto IS a planet. The definition you quote was agreed upon not by 2,500 scientists at the 2006 IAU General Assembly, but by only 424 who voted on the last day of the two week conference on a resolution that violated the group's own bylaws by not having been vetted by the appropriate committee first before being placed on the floor of the General Assembly for a vote.
ReplyDeleteOnly four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity--a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned. Also, many planetary scientists are not IAU members and had no say in this matter.
So what if our solar system has an additional 44 planets? It wasn't designed for our convenience. We don't limit the number of elements in the periodic table to make things easier for kids. And memorizing is far less important than understanding the features that define our various subclasses of planets.
I am a writer and amateur astronomer and proud to be one of these people. You can read more about why Pluto is a planet and worldwide efforts to overturn the demotion on my Pluto Blog at http://laurele.livejournal.com
Interesting stuff! Nice site !
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to visit my site. This debate is going to be around for a while--at least until New Horizons flies by Pluto and gives us a whole new set of data.
ReplyDeletei own a couple of useless information books so this site is just pure mind candy for me. :)
ReplyDeleteIs Pluto the ONLY dwarf Planet in our Solar System? Well... until i find out this site makes my homework a piece of cake! gr8t job!
ReplyDeleteNo, so far there are five recognized dwarf planets in our solar system: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. There probably are many more. Of course, I come from the perspective that dwarf planets are just a subclass of planets.
ReplyDeleteDoes pluto have any signs of life?
ReplyDeletePluto does not have any known signs of life, but it is important to remember that we have never observed it up close. That will change with the New Horizons flyby in 2015. Pluto could harbor a subsurface ocean, and if it does, that ocean potentially could host microbial life.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite an eye opener. Lovely article. I will come back again.
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ReplyDelete