Discovery History and Features of Pluto Page all

KOMPAS.com – Pluto is no longer called a planet by The International Astronomy Union (IAU) since 2006.

Pluto is considered not to meet all the criteria set by the IAU to be called a planet.

One criterion that Pluto doesn’t meet as a planet is that it hasn’t “cleared” its orbital environment of other objects.

Currently, Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet that is smaller than the planet but still orbits the sun.

Reporting from NASA, August 4 2015, the following are characteristics of Pluto and interesting facts around it.

Also read: Why Is Pluto No Longer Called a Planet?

1. Very far from the Sun

Pluto’s average distance is 39.5 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. This distance is nearly 40 million times farther than Earth’s distance from the sun.

Since its orbit is elliptical, Pluto’s distance from the Sun is not always the same. Pluto’s closest point from the Sun is 29.7 AU and its farthest point is 49.3 AU.

2. Only half as wide as the United States

Pluto is only 2,370 kilometers wide or about half the width of the United States and is smaller than the moon.

Pluto takes 248 Earth years to achieve one revolution around the sun. Thus, one year on Pluto equals 248 Earth years.

3. Have five months

Pluto has five moons that are known to date. Its largest moon is Charon which is half the size of Pluto.

Also read: 6 Wanted Facts, The Katai Planet That Made Pluto No Longer a Planet

The other four moons, namely Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx, are much smaller in size than Charon.

4. Has very cold temperatures

The temperature on Pluto is very cold. Scientists believe the temperature on Pluto is up to minus 230 degrees Celsius and 74 degrees Celsius cooler than the coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica.

Pluto is so far from Earth that scientists don’t know much about Pluto’s surface.

5. Has one fifth of Earth’s gravity

Like Earth, Pluto has gravity, but only one fifth of the gravity on Earth.
This means that a person who weighs 45 kilograms on Earth would weigh just 3 kilograms on Pluto.

Also read: Revealed, Pluto was Formed by Billions of Comets

Reporting from Library of Congress, Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh with contributions from William H. Pickering.

By 1915, the observatory had captured two cryptic images of Pluto that were yet to be recognized.

Actually, this is not the first portrait of Pluto. There are 16 known pre-discoveries and the oldest was made by the Yerkes Observatory in 1909.

At that time, Pluto’s discovery was making headlines around the world. Lowell Observatory also has the right to name the newly discovered celestial body.

The Lowell Observatory received more than 1,000 name suggestions from around the world, including from Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old student in Oxford, England, who proposed the name “Pluto”.

Also read: The Mystery of the Ocean Under Pluto’s Ice Sheet Finally Unraveled

According to Venetia who was interested in classical astronomy and mythology, the name God of the Underworld was suitable for dark and cold celestial bodies.

Venetia suggested the name “Pluto” to her grandfather, Falconer Madan, a former librarian at the Bodleain Library, University of Oxford.

Madan passed on the suggestion to Professor Herbert Hall Turner who sent it to colleagues in the United States.

Finally, the name Pluto was officially adopted on March 24, 1930 and announced on May 1, 1930. Venetia, as the proposer, was awarded £ 5 as a prize.

– .