Pluto is the ninth planet from the sun. Pluto seems to be a ice and rock planet. The primary component of Pluto is frozen nitrogen and small amounts of frozen carbon, monoxide and methane. The surface of Pluto is good at reflecting light this suggests that the planet is mostly ice.
Atmosphere: Pluto atmosphere is very cold at 39 AU. Pluto some time is the 8 th planet for only 20 years at a time. This is because it crosses Neptune’s orbit. The ice on the planet surface evaporates and forms an atmosphere. The air on Pluto is mostly nitrogen gas, carbon monoxide and methane.
Moons: Pluto has 3 known moons but only 1 moon has a name and it is the bigger one out of the three this is Charon. An American astronomer James Christy discovered this in 1978. The other two moons were spotted in 2005 by a team leaded by Alan Stern and Harold Weaver. Charon is large compared to Pluto and is obits very close to it as well. Many astronomers call these two pair “binary planets” (double planets). The moon always faces Pluto and theday’s lengths are identical.
Discovered Pluto: After Neptune was discovered in 1846 mathematical theory suggested that there still might be a ninth planet, and the ninth planet was finally discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombangh after a careful search of the sky. Finding Pluto was very difficult because it is so far away and small it is a very dim in the sky above. Pluto takes 248 days to orbit the sun this is because Pluto moves very slowly and is so far from away. Pluto was named after a Roman god of the underworld, it has 1 known moon and two unknown objects.
| Diameter: | Mass: | Density: | Minimum Distance From Sun: | Maximum Distance from Sun: | Minmum Distance from Earth: | Orbital Semimajor Axiz: |
| 2,390 km (1,485 miles) [0.187 x Earth's] |
12.5 x 10 21 kilograms (0.0021 x Earth's) |
1,750 kg/m3 (0.317 x Earth's) |
29.66 AU ( 4.437 billion km or 2.757 billion miles ) |
49.31 AU ( 7.376 billion km or 4.583 billion miles ) |
28.6 AU ( 4.28 billion km or 2.66 billion miles ) |
39.48 AU (Earth = 1 AU) |
| Rotation Period about Axis: | Revolution Period about the Sun: | Tilt of Axis: | Surface Gravity: | Orbital Inclination : | Surface temperatur: | Satellties/Rings: |
| 6.387 days (retrograde) | 248 years | 123 o | 0.58 m/s 2 (0.06 x Earth's) |
17.16° | 40 to 50 K ( -233° to -223° C or -387° to -369° F ) |
3 known |
