For many years, Pluto was considered the ninth planet in the Solar System. Unfortunately, Pluto is now labeled as a dwarf planet. Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930. This planet was named after the Roman god of the Underworld. Pluto was given some nicknames which are Xena and Dwarf Planet. This planet was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18, 1930. “ In January 2006 NASA launched the first mission to Pluto named New Horizons,” New Horizons reached Pluto in July 2015. People can live in Xena, but the oxygen will be frozen since Xena’s air is extremely cold. There is a lot more to still learn about The Dwarf Planet.
Not only are Pluto and the other eight planets similar, they are also different in multiple ways. After all, Wilson A. Bentley once said: “No two snowflakes are alike.” As most, if not all, people know, planets have an orbit. However, Pluto’s orbit is a little different and unusual compared to the orbit of the other eight planets. Although Pluto takes longer than the other planets to one orbit around the sun (248 earth years), the main difference is that Pluto’s orbit doesn’t lie in the same plane as the eight planets, but is inclined at an angle of 17 degrees. Not only that, but its orbit is more elliptical, or oval-shaped, than others. This causes Pluto to sometimes passes inside the orbit of Neptune. In paragraph 3, it mentioned that
Pluto isn’t a planet for many reasons the main one being, it only follows two of the three criteria of being a planet. According to the article “Pluto: Planet or not?”, for Pluto to be a planet it needs to meet three pieces of criteria. In the article “Pluto: Planet or not?” it states that “Pluto meets two of these three criteria.” Therefore, Pluto should not be considered a planet because, it doesn't meet the criteria it needs to. Many scientist would agree that Pluto is considered a dwarf planet. “Pluto is a dwarf planet” Christensen wrote. It’s just plain and simple, Pluto is a dwarf planet, no doubt about it. There shouldn’t be any confusion about whether Pluto should be considered or not for many reasons. If it doesn’t meet all three
Many issues have arisen from the debate whether or not Pluto is a planet. Some astronomers say that Pluto should be classified as a “minor planet” due to its size, physical characteristics, and other factors. On the other hand, some astronomers defend Pluto’s planet status, citing several key features.
Pluto is very popular in the world and there is a lot of conversation on whether or not it should be considered a planet. Its size and unusual orbit are two factors that make it part of the dwarf family.
By definition from a Merriam- Webster Dictionary a planet is “any of the large bodies that revolve around the sun in the solar system which have a similar body to them”. This is not a very specific explanation and makes it hard to fully grasp what it means; at this you could easily say that in fact Pluto a planet. However if you look at a scientific encyclopedia the definition is much different and more specific. The Access Science Encyclopedia says a planet is “A) a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun B) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it can assume a hydrostatic equilibrium shape C) clears the neighborhood around its orbit”. This explanation is much different and clearer about
In August 2006 pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet and it is still considered to not be a planet. Do you think it should be considered a planet? Pluto should not be considered a planet in my opinion.
Did you know Pluto’s not a planet? Pluto is a dwarf planet. The astronomers are going to find out how Pluto became a dwarf planet.
Pluto is the ninth planet in Earth's solar system. However, throughout the years, Pluto has had many differing views on it. Some believe that it isn't a planet at all, since it does not meet all 3 classifications of a planet (Williams Dwarf). On the other hand many scientists do still classify Pluto as a planet. Looking past all of the controversy, Pluto still has a remarkable history in astronomy.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson wrote The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet to examine why Pluto ought not to be considered a planetary body and instead a dwarf planet or Kuiper Belt Object.
As it has been proved pluto infact does orbit the moon and has moons of its own. So with pluto having two of the four classifications why would it be declassified? It has been thought that pluto might just simply be the first of a population of small, icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune.” ( Rincon). But many people contradict that theory saying that Pluto orbits the sun so therefore it has to be a planet and that the icy bodies, if beyond the orbit of Neptune, would then not be able to orbit the sun like Pluto infact does. Pluto before has been thought to have been a meteor that had just been caught in the gravitational pull of the solar system. That was however proved inaccurate because Pluto was far it big in mass to be a meteor. With Pluto being more than 3.6 billion miles away from the sun (May). It hardly gets warmth and which is why Pluto is a hard crater filled icy orb. Many people believe that pluto is just a larger
In comparison to Earth, Pluto is about 39 times further away, and therefore, it takes Pluto 248 Earth years to complete one orbit (Landau, Pluto 19). Compared to Earth’s 24 hours in a day, “a day on Pluto lasts 153 hours, or about 6 Earth days” (“Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”). Pluto is also only 1,400 miles wide, which is “about half the width of the United States, or 2/3 the width of Earth’s moon” (“Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”). Since Pluto is less dense than Earth, Pluto’s mass is an astonishing “one-sixth that of Earth’s moon” ( “Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”). When New Horizons visited Pluto, it was also discovered that Pluto has a “heart shaped glacier that’s the size of Texas and Oklahoma” (“Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”) and “mountains as high as the Rockies” (“Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”). Overall, Pluto is much smaller and less dense than Earth, setting it apart from the other planets which are on a larger scale.
Astronomers now label Pluto as a “dwarf planet” because it does not meet all of the criteria to be a planet. It is also not alone in its orbit; it is part of a wide group of small-scale objects that have been detected revolving around the Sun beyond Neptune.
Pluto belongs with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, or the outer planets. In our solar system, there are two groups of planets called the inner planets, and the outer planets. The inner planets are the first four planets before the asteroid belt, while the outer planets are the ones after the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt is a region of space the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, which probably contains million of asteroids. It is where most of the asteroids in our solar system are found orbiting the sun. Although Pluto was a part of the outer planets, it was the only known planet that orbits mostly in the Kuiper belt. Beyond Neptune is a region full of icy bodies, known as the Kuiper belt. This is what made Pluto stands out, not to mention that it’s also a lot smaller than the other outer planets. This got some astronomers thinking about whether or not Pluto should really be considered a
To be qualified as a planet and object must orbit a star, is not star-like in that it is undergoing internal nuclear fusion, and has a gravitational force that will allow it to retain a spherical shape. Pluto certainly fulfills these requirements, however, there are Kuiper objects that also meet the same criteria. These objects have been classified as minor planets and have been assigned a numerical designation. Despite all the argument for demoting Pluto to a minor planet, its status has remained the same, even if solely contributed to maintaining historical context.