| Pluto | |||||||||||||||||
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This is the visual presentation for Andrew H. and Michael S.'s report on Pluto. We have interesting facts about Pluto and Charom, the moon of Pluto. We also have Pictures and drawings of Pluto. At the bottom of the page there is a link that says pictures of Pluto, that's ours, same with the next page. So check at the bottom of this page, where it says Pictures of Pluto, that is still our site. Do the same on the next page. | |||||||||||||||||
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Pluto is the second farthest planet from the Sun(usually), next to Planet X, which was just discovered recently. Pluto is also the smallest planet in the Solar System Pluto's average distance from the sun is 5,913,520,000 km Diameter: 2320 Mass: 1.32e22 kg Pluto is smaller then seven of the Solar System's moons: the Moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton In Greek mythology, Puto (Greek: Hades) is the god of the underworld. The planet may have recieved this name because it's so far from the sun that it is in perpetual darkness, and perhaps because "PL" are the intials of Percival Lowell Pluto was discovered by accident in 1930. Caculations which later turned out to be an error had predicted a planet beyond Neptune, based on the motions of Uranus and Neptune. Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Arizona did a very careful sky survey which turned up Pluto anyway. Pluto is the only planet that has not been visited by a space craft. Even the Hubble Space Telescope cannot resolve features on its surface. Some scientists believe that Pluto should be classified as a large asteroid or comet, rather then a planet. Pluto's orbit is very strange. It orbits around the sun in the opposite direction as the other planets. It has been closer to the Sun then Neptune since 1979 and will continue to do so until this year. Pluto's orbital period is exactly 1.5 times longer than Neptune's. This prevents them from colliding. Little is known about Pluto's atmosphere. The material that makes up Pluto's atmosphere exists as a gas only when pluto is near its perihelion; for the majority of Pluto's long year, the atmospheric gases are frozen into ice. Near perihelion, it is likely that some of the atmosphere escapes to space perhaps even interacting with Charon. Pluto can be seen with an ameteur telescope but it is very difficult. Date of discovery: February 18, 1930� Mass (kg) 1.27e+22� Mass (Earth = 1) 2.125e-03� � Equatorial radius (km) 1,137 � � Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 0.1783 � � Mean density (gm/cm^3) 2.05 � Rotational period (days) 6.3872 � Orbital period (years) 248.54 � Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 4.74 � Orbital eccentricity 0.2482 � � Tilt of axis (degrees) 122.52 � � Orbital inclination (degrees) 17.148 � � Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 0.4 � � Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 1.22 � � Visual geometric albedo 0.3� � Magnitude (Vo) 15.12 � � Atmospheric composition 0.3 Methane Nitrogen � | Facts about Pluto, the ninth/eigth planet in the Solar System | ||||||||||||||||
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| Facts about Charon, Pluto's moon |
Pluto has a moon, Charon. Charon was discovered in 1978. Charon is Pluto's only known moon. Charon's average distance from Pluto is 19,640 km Diameter: 1270 Mass: 1.47e21 kg Charon is named for the mythological figure who ferried the dead across the River Styx into Hades (the Underworld). Charon was discovered by J. Christy. Prior to Charon's discovery, Pluto was thought to be much larger since the images of Charon and Pluto were blurred together. Pluto and Charon are also unique in that not only does Charon rotate synchronously but Pluto does, too: they both keep the same face toward one another. Charon is unusual in that it is the largest moon with respect to its primary planet in the SOlar System (a distinction once held by Earth's Moon). Some prefer to think of Pluto/Charon as a double planet rather than a planet and a moon. Charon's composite is unknown, but its low density (1.4 gm/cm3) indicates that it may be similar to Saturn's icy moons (i.e. Rhea). Its surface seems to be covered with water ice. | ||||||||||||||||
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