Posted on 01/31/2022 7:41:35 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Pluto is a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet travels around, or orbits, the sun just like other planets. But it is much smaller.
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. He was an astronomer from the United States. An astronomer is a scientist who studies stars and other objects in space. Venetia Burney named Pluto that same year. She was an 11-year-old girl from England.
Pluto is not very big. It is only half as wide as the United States. Pluto is smaller than Earth's moon. This dwarf planet takes 248 Earth years to go around the sun. If you lived on Pluto, you would have to wait 248 Earth years to celebrate your first birthday. One day on Pluto is about 6 1/2 days on Earth.
Pluto is about 40 times farther from the sun than Earth is. Pluto is in an area of space called the Kuiper (KY-per) Belt. Thousands of small, icy objects like Pluto but smaller are in the Kuiper Belt.
This dwarf planet has five moons. Its largest moon is named Charon (KAIR-ən). Charon is about half the size of Pluto. Pluto's four other moons are named Kerberos, Styx, Nix and Hydra.
What Is Pluto Like?
Pluto is very, very cold...
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
ping
I remember when Pluto was a planet and we all had a future!
Isn’t it next to Uranus?
Although Pluto was demoted as a planet it holds a higher honor: Plutonium. It is right there on the periodic table next to Neptunium. If people ever do spread out beyond the solar system Plutonium will still be element 94 .
When the Horizons probe zipped past Pluto do you know what its power source was? Plutonium!
Once considered a planet, scientists decided that that was just Goofy.
Very interesting article. But if it is a dwarf planet then it is a planet and shouldn’t they put it back as one?
Dont despair, its not over yet. There is a paper that has argued that “planet” has been misdefined by science for the last 60ish(?) years that has gained some supporters. If “planet” is redefined to the definition used by those writing the paper then we will have something like 126(?) planets in our solar system.
Wait until your fourth grader comes home with that planetary mobile project.
“I was flipping through a children’s book”
Thanks for pointing that out. I thought either an idiot at NASA had written this or someone at NASA thinks everyone else is an idiot.
“Pluto is a dwarf planet...”
Well, it did get tossed.
“Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930”
I did a school report on him in 1970 when I was in I believe the 4th grade, I wish I still had it because I remember being fascinated by it. He actually made his own telescope, lenses and mirrors included.
IMHO, next to Earth is is the most beautiful PLANET in our Solar System.
See that? God made it. And America brought it to you.
I recommend reading “How I Killed Pluto and Why it had it coming” by Make Brown.
He was the guy that discovered the Kuiper Belt objects that made the downgrading of Pluto mandatory.
I don’t think Pluto gives a rip.
I know a Bluto Blutarsky…
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