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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Interesting Facts about Pluto

Pluto isn't a planet any more, but it's still a very interesting "dwarf planet" in the Solar System, worthy of our fascination and interest. Here are 10 interesting facts on Pluto. Some you might already know, and others will be completely new. 1. Pluto has an atmosphere Even though Pluto's average temperature averages a mere 44 degrees above absolute zero, the dwarf planet has an atmosphere. Not an atmosphere as we know it, but an atmosphere, none the less. It was first discovered back in 1985, when astronomers watched as Pluto passed in front of a star. They were able to calculate a slight dimming as its atmosphere passed in front of the star, before Pluto itself blocked the star entirely. From those observations, they were able to calculate that it has a thin envelope of nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. As Pluto moves away from the Sun, this atmosphere gets so cold that it freezes onto the surface. And then as the dwarf planet warms again, the atmosphere evaporates again, forming a gas around it. 2. Pluto has 3 moons You might have heard that Pluto has a large moon called Charon (more on that later), but did you know that it actually has 3 moons in total. Charon is the large one, with a mass of roughly half that of Pluto's. Two additional moons, Nix and Hydra, were discovered by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope on May 15, 2005. They were originally called S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2, and then given their final names on June 21, 2006. They took a long time to discover because they're so tiny. Nix is only 46 km across, while Hydra is 61 km across.

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