Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. It was the first Kuiper belt object to be discovered. Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun.
View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/pluto Orbital period: 248 years Radius: 1,188 km Discovered: February 18, 1930 Moons: Charon, Nix, Styx, Kerberos, Hydra Did you know: Several planetary scientists began working on Pluto in earnest around that time.
Pluto (Dwarf Planet)
Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto is unlike other planets in many respects. It is smaller than Earth's moon. Its orbit carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and then way out beyond that orbit. From 1979 until early 1999, Pluto had actually been the eighth planet from the sun. Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed Neptune's path and once again became the solar system's most distant planet — until it was demoted to dwarf planet status. Pluto will stay beyond Neptune for 228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the main plane of the solar system — where the other planets orbit — by 17.1 degrees. It’s a cold, rocky world with only a very ephemeral atmosphere. NASA's New Horizons mission performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.
Discovery: 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh Named for: Roman god of the underworld, Hades Diameter: 1,430 miles (2,301 km) Orbit: 248 Earth years Day: 6.4 Earth day Related: More Pluto Facts Pluto Pictures NASA Solar System Exploration: Dwarf Planetsstem Exploration: Neptune
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