I chose Pluto for this project because it seemed like an unpopular, but interesting subject. At first, I wanted to do the whole solar system, but I figured the explanations of each planet wouldn’t do them justice, because there are so many things to say about them. Also, the paper would most likely end up being fairly longer than necessary. After further thought, I figured Pluto would be the best subject for me, considering I did not know much about the so called planet that was removed from our solar system. I had a lot of research to do on the tiny dwarf.
In 1905, Percival Lowell (left) studied the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. After using mathematics, he had proven a completely unknown planet, Planet X, must cause them to move oddly
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Pluto was not named until March 24, 1930. Before this new planet’s name was chosen, Constance, Cronus, Lowell, Minerva, Percival, and Zeus were other suggested possibilities. These suggestions came from a number of sources such as The New York Times and Percival Lowell’s widow, Constance Lowell. The name “Pluto” came from an eleven year old girl by the name of Venetia Burney of Oxford, England, who was interested in both astronomy and ancient mythology. She suggested it to her grandfather who forwarded the name to the Lowell Observatory. Pluto, in Roman mythology, was the third son of Saturn, and the god of the underworld, and the brother of Jupiter, Neptune, and Juno. Although, astronomers liked this name because of the Roman mythology behind it, they also liked it due to the fact that it started with the letters “Pl” and they were the initials of the original person who caused astronomers to look for Pluto, Percival Lowell. To the right is Pluto’s scientific symbol which also consists of Lowell’s initials.
Pluto is a small planet that is very distant from the sun and extremely different from Earth. It is only 2,372 kilometers (1,474 miles) in diameter, has a retrograde (backwards/east to west) orbit, and has about one fifteenth of the gravity of Earth. So, a person who weighs 100 pounds on Earth would only weigh roughly 7 on Pluto. On Pluto, one day is about 6.39 days on Earth. Meaning within
Recently Pluto was declassified as a planet leaving only eight planets in Earth’s solar system. There were many mixed feelings about the declassification. Many people were happy because they thought pluto should have never been considered a planet in the first place. People thought that pluto was far to small and too far away to be a planet in the first place, over shadowed by the much larger nearer planets to it. Meanwhile other people were distraught at the thought that NASA could take Pluto’s title as a planet away that easily. Growing up with being taught about Pluto as a planet and learning so much about it many people were offended that the title of planet was striped from Pluto.
Pluto is unlike the other planets in that it has an icy surface instead of a rocky surface, like the inner 4 (terrestrial) planets, or a deep atmosphere, like the next 4 (gas giant) planets.
Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1930.
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
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.
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.
In the Solar System there is nine planets total counting Pluto and eight not counting pluto. Named after the Greek god of the underworld Pluto is the ninth of the nine planets from the sun. Pluto was discovered in February 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. Plutos the only orbit planet in the Solar System after it was classified as an orbit planet back in 2006. The planet has nine moons total Charon, Hydra, Nix, Kerberos, and Styx. Although Pluto is the largest Dwarf Planet it's smaller than most moon of the other planets. Alongside Pluto is the eighth planet from the sun otherwise known as Neptune. Due to its blue coloration Neptune was named after the Roman god of the Sea. While neptunes the third largest planet with respect to mass, according to diameter it's the fourth largest. Neptune has 14 moons and a very thin collection of rings that are made up of ice and dust
In the outer limits of our solar system there is a planet unlike any other, Pluto. Pluto was discovered in February of 1930 by an American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh. It is the only planet to have been discovered by an American. All though we have known of the existence of Pluto for over thirty years now, there are still many mysteries surrounding this celestial body. Being the farthest planet has made it difficult to study Pluto, Adding to the obscurity of this strange planet is that the capability to send spacecraft such distances has never been achieved. Through the wonders of science and astronomy, there are many things that can be determined, concluded, and hypothesized about this obscure planet.
Pluto shouldn’t be described and identified or labeled a dwarf planet because it has the same features as other planets, it does everything the other planets do and more, most importantly each planet is different making pluto the same. Pluto should be considered a planet it’s not fair! According to, Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor, Pluto has 5 moons. According to Nine Planets, Pluto has an atmosphere consisting of mainly nitrogen extending to 1,600 km above the surface. According to Business Insider, scientists estimate that smooth patch on Pluto is only about 100 million years old, as
The discussion about Pluto’s status in our solar system is still in question. The definition of a planet is changing as society advances and as time passes. We used to believe that Pluto was a planet which orbits the sun, but in a weird way since it’s orbit is quite odd compared to other planets in our solar system. Pluto is different such that, it has five moons and crosses Neptune’s orbit. Not only does it do that, it is quite small in contrast to the other celestial body in our solar system. As society advances, we question the definition of a planet and Pluto’s status in our solar system. Our crave for knowledge and curiosity about what’s around us motivates us to explore the unknown. Our desire to learn more is due to the fact that people
Clyde Tombaugh, during his discovery of the planet Pluto, was a farm boy and an ameteur astronomer employed by Arizona’s Lowell Observatory in search of the mysterious Planet X. During his search, the roaring twenties was in full swing and during this time,
The present unknow ninth planet was discovered in 1930, pluto is the second smallest planet from the solar system and most massive dwarf planet. Pluto down to the newly created classification of ¨dwarf planet.¨ There are still many objects with similar size and mass to pluto jostling around its orbit. The dwarf planet Pluto is named for the ancient Roman god of the underworld. In Roman mythology, Pluto was the son of Saturn who, with his three brothers, controlled the world: Jupiter controlled the sky, Neptune controlled the sea, and Pluto ruled the underworld.
Today we are going to talk about Pluto and its features. Pluto is a dwarf planet, it is very cold and its orbit takes longer to revolve around the sun than other planets. Pluto is not considered a planet now but it was before a meteorite knocked it out of orbit a long time ago. Pluto is much further from the sun than the other planets. Because it is so far out it takes longer to orbit the sun.
Binary planets, or double planets, are systems where both objects are widely considered of planetary mass.
Internal Summary/Preview: After discussing the discovery of “Planet X” through the beliefs of Percival Lowell and the actual finding done by Clyde Tombaugh, we will shift to discussing how “Planet X” got the name Pluto.