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The Pluto: The Creation Of Our Solar System

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To me, astronomy means understanding more about the universe we live in. We often get short sighted living on Earth, and we fail to realise just how much more there really is out there, not only in our Solar System but in the Milky Way and beyond! Learning about different planets and other celestial bodies opens up a whole new world (pardon the pun) of learning, and can teach us about past events such as the creation of our Solar System or even the universe. And by learning more about these foreign bodies, we are also learning more about the forces that govern Earth, how Earth came to be, and what may lie in store for us. Overall I think it is a very interesting subject, and while more down-to-Earth people (again, pardon the pun) may scoff …show more content…

Once considered the last planet in our Solar System, it was declassified in 2006 and is now said to be located in the Kuiper Belt. Pluto failed the third section of the planet test: the planet must have cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit of all other celestial objects. It was named after the Roman god of the Underworld, and has 5 moons. The largest, Chiron, is sometimes considered to be a twin planet to Pluto, since they are so similar in size and Chiron always faces Pluto the same way, much like our Moon does the Earth. The other moons, Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos, orbit at a greater distance, and are considered true moons. Pluto also has an elliptical orbit, and sometimes passes in front of Neptune so that it is closer to the Sun than the farthest planet of our galaxy.

There are three main characteristics that define a planet, and two that divide a planet from a dwarf planet. The two main characteristics between a planet and a dwarf planet are:

A planet must have enough "self gravity" to have a spherical shape.
A planet must have cleared the surrounding neighbourhood of it's orbit of all other celestial bodies and objects.
Although most dwarf planets inhabit the Kuiper Belt, there is one notable exception that reside in the Asteroid Belt named Ceres. Dwarf planets are also notorious for following long elliptical orbits, while the planets, though they still follow an elliptical orbit, are on a much more circular path. Overall, dwarf planets

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