Why Is Pluto Alive?

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.

This activity is about the main events in New Horizon’s journey to Pluto and beyond.

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.

Unless the criteria for planets changed Pluto shouldn’t be flipflopping back and forth. This shows that emotions for certain objects, such as Pluto, aren’t exempt from those that make the debatable decisions. Why do peoples’ emotions get in the way of making decisions? Decisions should be based off of facts, not how one feels during one specific time. Looking off of the facts also helps there from being any bias.

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

Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s dwarf book is much like Pluto: It’s got plenty of interesting facts however it is mostly appreciated for the illustrations. Dr. Tyson’s new book, the publication is a space nonfiction of Pluto’s fall from planethood. Dr. Tyson wrote this book to explore the reasons why Pluto was demoted from the status of being a planet and all of the history behind the discovery. Also, due to his vast interest in Astronomy, Dr.Tyson was influenced to write The Pluto Files.

This article relates to the upcoming lab because it talks about "ice volcanoes," and we will be talking about volcanoes during the next lab session. In general, volcanoes are an incredibly interesting thing to think about because they are mountains that erupt lava, hot vapor, rock fragments, etc. Ice volcanoes are an even more fascinating thing to think about because I was not aware that they even existed; the possibility that they might exist on Pluto is insane. Although the two mountains that have been seen on Pluto might not be ice volcanoes, it's still compelling to think that they might be, especially since they have "depressions similar to volcanoes found on Mars and Earth." This article does not affect me directly, but this discovery might help scientists get more of an understanding of what Pluto might look like in the future.

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.

Known as a dwarf planet, Pluto is in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. It was the first discovered Kuiper belt object.

While modern science has currently stripped Pluto of its title as one of the planets of our solar system it is my belief that one day it could reclaim its title. As a planet is currently defined it has to have cleared its orbit of obstructions which is the reasoning for why Pluto has as of now lost its title, it has yet to finish clearing its orbital path. However, over time it is entirely possible that it will and at that point in time it could once again be considered the planet it has always been. There is also the alternative chance that the definition of a planet could be changed into something more inclusive that would reinstate Pluto to its rightful throne. This second possibility would

The approach to the Pluto system over the last few days has yielded previously unexcelled images of the planet, as well as its moon, Charon (pronounced equally as “Sharon” or “Karen”). But Stern promised the next few days will bring forth much better photos, with ten times the resolution of previous images.

Additionally, Pluto also has its own composition, structure, orbit, rotation, and as well as its own moon. Similar to Earth, Pluto also has an atmospheric and a chemical composition. Its atmospheric composition contains methane and nitrogen. Pluto’s atmosphere is said to extend as far as 1,000 miles above its surface. Its chemical composition consists of a mixture of 70% rock 30% water ice. As for Pluto’s structure, it is said that the dwarf planet has a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice, with ices such as methane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen ice that is coating the surface. The dwarf planet’s diameter of 1,473 miles is said to be about two- third of our moon. Its rotation is different from Earth; it spins backward, from east

The newest high-resolution eye-candy images of Pluto were released by the New Horizons mission team at a press conference today and, again, they did not disappoint. Details flow in and questions continue to mount as the formerly most-mysterious body in the solar system drops her veils. See below for images and video.

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.