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Astronomers searched for a ninth planet for decades before discovering Pluto in 1930. Pluto is much smaller than Earth's moon and takes 246 years to orbit the sun. In 2006, the IAU defined a planet as clearing its orbit and having sufficient mass to be round, so Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet along with other large Kuiper Belt objects. The New Horizons probe provided new data on Pluto and its moons after flying by in 2015, but Pluto's status as a planet remains debated.

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32 views

Untitled

Astronomers searched for a ninth planet for decades before discovering Pluto in 1930. Pluto is much smaller than Earth's moon and takes 246 years to orbit the sun. In 2006, the IAU defined a planet as clearing its orbit and having sufficient mass to be round, so Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet along with other large Kuiper Belt objects. The New Horizons probe provided new data on Pluto and its moons after flying by in 2015, but Pluto's status as a planet remains debated.

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biologi hisensei
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Discovery

Astronomers had been searching the skies for a ninth planet


for several decades before Pluto was discovered on the 18th
February 1930.

Pluto was named after the Greek god of death and the
underworld. The name was suggested by an 11 year-old
English schoolgirl.
The Facts
Pluto is only 66% of the size of the Earth’s Moon – and just 18% of its mass.

Pluto’s orbit means it is occasionally closer to the Sun than Neptune.

Pluto orbits the sun almost 40 times further away than the Earth does.

Pluto takes 246 years to make one orbit of the Sun.

Pluto has five moons – the largest of which is called Charon.


Pluto and Charon
Charon’s large mass relative to Pluto means that instead of Charon orbiting
Pluto, both bodies orbit a point in space where the gravity of each cancels out.
Pluto’s other four smaller moons also orbit this point.

Photo courtesy of Kevin M. Gill (@flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution
The Kuiper Belt
• The Kuiper Belt is an area of the Solar System, which extends beyond
the orbit of Neptune for about 20 times the distance between the Sun
and the Earth.

• It consists of huge numbers of icy bodies, ranging considerably in size


and shape.

• Pluto is the largest known Kuiper Belt object.

• Many other Kuiper Belt objects could have become known as planets
under the previous ‘classical’ definition of a planet.
What Is a Planet?
Aware that the number of planets in the Solar System could rise dramatically,
in 2006, the International Astronomical Society (IAU) revised the definition of
a planet. They decided that a planet must…
•orbit the Sun;
•have sufficient mass to be round (or nearly round);
•not be a satellite (moon) of another object;
•have removed debris and small objects from the area around its orbit.

Since it was acknowledged that Pluto had not cleared the area around its orbit, it
did not meet these new criteria and was reclassified as a dwarf planet.
Dwarf Planets
A Dwarf Planet is an object of planetary mass which orbits the Sun, has
compressed itself into a spherical state through the force of its own gravity, but
has not cleared the neighbourhood of other material around its orbit.
The IAU currently recognises 5 Dwarf Planets, including; Ceres, Pluto, Haumea,
Makemake and Eris.
Estimations predict that there are at least 100 objects in the solar system, which
fit the definition of a Dwarf Planet.
The Continuing Debate
Pluto was officially a planet for 76 years. Given its orbital period of 246 years,
it did not even make a 1/3 of its way around the Sun as a planet. However,
some scientists and astronomers have continued to refer to Pluto as a planet.
Arguments for Pluto continuing to be a planet are presented regularly.
Some astronomers have suggested that there are issues in relation to planets
‘clearing the areas around them.’ Even an Earth-sized planet in Pluto’s location
would not clear the area and therefore would not be classified as a planet under
the new definition.
New Horizons
NASA’s New Horizons space probe was launched in 2006, shortly before Pluto
lost its planetary status.
Its mission goal was to understand more about Pluto, Charon and Pluto’s other
satellites. It was also to continue past Pluto, to make a further study of a suitable
Kuiper Belt object.
The probe passed within just 7,800 miles of Pluto’s surface in 2015, capturing
fascinating images of the features of Pluto’s landscape and large quantities of
new scientific and geographic data.
The Future
The debate about Pluto’s status seems certain to continue – particularly given the
characteristics of the planet, which have been revealed by the New Horizon
mission.
If Pluto is ever reclassified as a planet, the Solar System will need to be expanded
to include other bodies similar to Pluto.
In the meantime, Pluto will continue orbiting the Sun once every 246 years, at a
distance of almost 40 times further than the distance between the Earth and the
Sun.
New Horizons

Photo courtesy of Kevin M. Gill (@flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution

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