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4 days ago · Pluto, large, distant member of the solar system that formerly was regarded as the outermost and smallest planet. In 2006 a group of experts in the scientific community voted to give Pluto the new classification of dwarf planet. Learn more about Pluto in this article.
- In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) removed Pluto from the list of planets and classified it as a dwarf planet because of its small...
- Amateur American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in the constellation Gemini on February 18, 1930.
- Pluto’s mean distance from the Sun is about 5.9 billion km (3.7 billion miles or 39.5 astronomical units).
- Pluto's orbit is more elongated, or eccentric, than any of the planetary orbits and more inclined (at 17.1°) to the ecliptic. In traveling its ecce...
- Pluto possesses five known moons. Charon is by far the largest, being fully half the size of Pluto. Pluto’s other four moons—Hydra, Nix, Kerberos,...
2 days ago · Plutoids are dwarf planets that are farther from the Sun than Neptune; that is, they are the largest objects in the Kuiper belt. Two of the dwarf planets, Pluto and Eris, are plutoids; Ceres, because of its location in the asteroid belt, is not.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Pluto is no longer classed as a planet, having been demoted to Dwarf Planet Status. If Pluto was a planet, would it or Mercury be the smallest planet in the Solar System, we take a look at the contenders.
5 days ago · Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was discovered in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and was considered the ninth planet in the solar system until it was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
4 days ago · The catalog's first object is 1 Ceres, discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801, while its best-known entry is Pluto, listed as 134340 Pluto. The vast majority (97.3%) of minor planets are asteroids from the asteroid belt (the catalog uses a color code to indicate a body's dynamical classification ).
4 days ago · Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues for how the solar system formed. May 31, 2024, 1:02 AM ET (EarthSky) Pluto's ocean is super salty, scientists say. New Horizons near Pluto. Artist's rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft approaching Pluto and its three moons. (more)
2 days ago · According to his analysis, Pluto's ocean is located under a surface layer that is between 40 and 80 km thick. This layer acts as an insulator, ensuring that the inland ocean remains in a liquid state. For decades, planetary scientists assumed that Pluto was too cold to house an inland ocean. Orbiting far beyond the "Ice Line" of the Solar ...
