Pluto

__** Distance from the sun: **__ 3,647,240,000 miles or 5,869,660,000 kilometers
====**__Diameter:__** 1,400 miles **or** 2,300 kilometers less than a fifth of the size of Earth ====

=
Second most massive dwarf planet next to __Eris__ =====



Neptune

9th planet (now a dwarf) and every few years it is in front of Neptune
The most recent orbit crossing took place on January 21, 1979 when Pluto came inside Neptune's orbit. They switched back on February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226. Pluto and Neptune never collide as their orbits cross because as Pluto reaches perihelion, the closest it ever comes to the Sun, it is at its maximum [|degree of inclination]. When the two planets pass by each other, Pluto is usually well below or above the plane Neptune's orbit is on. The closest the planets come together is approximately 18 [|A.U.] -Link to thinkquest.org with more on pluto.

Mostly glaciers and rocky hills

=Other Info. :)=

Origin of name:

"In Roman mythology, Pluto (Greek: Hades) is the god of the underworld. The dwarf planet received this name (after many other suggestions) perhaps because it's so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness and perhaps because "PL" are the initials of Percival Lowell (the major proponent of Pluto’s existence)." - averypickford.com

PLUTO'S HISTORY: The story begins 76 years ago: In those days astrronomers discovered that something was wrong with the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. They didnt go ina complete circular orbit around the sun like they should have been. Scientist's then came up with the theory that there must have been another planet out there. On Jan. 23, 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered a dim speck moving among the stars. Right then and there our solar system had a 9th planet. It was named by a young England girl named Venetia Burney of Oxford England. She was 11 years old when the planet was named after Mickey-Mouses' dog Pluto. She admits that she did not diliberatley choose that name because of the famous Disney characters dog. -plutopetition.com

the giant SPECK is pluto.

PLUTO'S SEASONS

The summer on pluto are quite long ( at least 50 years). This causes the only time that the frozen surface of methane and nitrogen to vaporize when the planet gets some heat from the sun to create somewhat of an atmoshere.

PLUTO'S gravity is about 7% of what it is on EARTH. ex. a person weighing 100 kg. on earth would weigh a mere 7 grams on pluto. The average gravitational accekeration on pluto is 0.58 meters per second. For comparison earth's gravity is 16.94 times stronger than that of pluto.

As Pluto's orbit takes it away from the sun, its atmosphere aually FREEZES andf falls to the ground. Only when pluto is in perihelion is the atmosphere actually a GAS form. PERIHELION: The point in the body's orbit that is closest to the sun. The closest a body ever gets to the sun.

The colors of pluto:

THE MOVEMENT OF PLUTO AUGUST 4-8 OF 2008

the Kuiper Belt Objects", or "KBOs" for short. The [|Kuiper Belt] isa bit like the [|asteroid] belt, but much farther from the Sun. -windows2universe.org According to __**thejohnchronicles.wordpress.com**__ ** For two weeks last year at this time, Pluto had been impacted by the heating and disruption of a new celestial body that had wandered too close to its orbit. In fact, Pluto was not the only victim, with Jupiter and others being affected. The fact that the Sun has shot off some CME’s in recent weeks that are said to have shifted the geomagnetic axis at precisely 19 degrees and additionally an increase in the seismicity of about 1.33 MW seismicity half of 2008, “literally” confirms the theory of our binary solar system. **

THE DISCOVERY OF PLUTO:

__**PLUTO'S ORBIT:**__ When pluto was discovered its was located in the constellation of Serpens Cauda. Scorpius.



THE APPEARANCE OF PLUTO FROM THE INSIDE-OUT: Pluto has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Even the [|Hubble Space Telescope] can resolve only the largest features on its surface. A is it's moon spacecraft called [|New Horizons] was launched in January 2006. If all goes well it should reach Pluto in 2015.

BYE-BYE PLUTO :-( On September 4, 2006, Pluto was considered to be not a planet for many reasons. According to universetoday.com, Pluto is no longer a planet because 1) It doesnt have a spherical orbit around the sun. It has a sort of oval shape. 2) It doesn't have enough gravity to pull it in a sherical shape around the sun. 3) Pluto hasn't "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit. Those are the THREE main reasons as to why Pluto is no longer a planet.