Is Pluto a planet? This is the question many astronomers are debating. Pluto used to be considered a planet but back in 2006, it was taken of its title and was considered a dwarf planet. Many astronomers believe Pluto is a planet, and many believe it is not. This is a modern day debate for astronomers.
Pluto was first discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. Pluto is a very, very, very cold planet and is believed to be covered with ice. The temperature on Pluto is 375 - 400 degrees below zero, which is very cold compared to here on Earth. Pluto is so far away from Earth that scientists know very little about what the mysterious planet it is like. Pluto’s orbit is 5,913,520,000 km from the Sun. …show more content…
Pluto has about 1/15 the gravity of Earth, so a person who weighs nearly 125 pounds on Earth would weigh only about 7.5 pounds on Pluto. It takes Pluto 248 years to go around the sun. One day on Pluto is about seven days on Earth.
Most planets orbit the sun in a near circular motion and the sun is in the center of the circle. But Pluto does not orbit in a circle, the orbit of Pluto is shaped like an oval, and the sun is not in the center. Pluto's orbit is also tilted. Some astronomers don’t consider Pluto a planet because in 2003, an astronomer saw a new object beyond Pluto. The astronomer thought he had found a new planet. The object he saw was larger than Pluto. He named the object Eris. This discovery caused astronomers to talk about what makes a planet a true planet. A group of astronomers, that name objects in space, decided that Pluto was not really a planet because of its size and location in space. So Pluto and objects similar to it are now called dwarf planets (Netting). Eris is larger, made of the same ice and rock mixture, and is more massive than Pluto. With this finding, the idea that we have nine planets in the Solar System began
Pluto was first discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. Pluto is a very, very, very cold planet and is believed to be covered with ice. The temperature on Pluto is 375 - 400 degrees below zero, which is very cold compared to here on Earth. Pluto is so far away from Earth that scientists know very little about what the mysterious planet it is like. Pluto’s orbit is 5,913,520,000 km from the Sun. …show more content…
Pluto has about 1/15 the gravity of Earth, so a person who weighs nearly 125 pounds on Earth would weigh only about 7.5 pounds on Pluto. It takes Pluto 248 years to go around the sun. One day on Pluto is about seven days on Earth.
Most planets orbit the sun in a near circular motion and the sun is in the center of the circle. But Pluto does not orbit in a circle, the orbit of Pluto is shaped like an oval, and the sun is not in the center. Pluto's orbit is also tilted. Some astronomers don’t consider Pluto a planet because in 2003, an astronomer saw a new object beyond Pluto. The astronomer thought he had found a new planet. The object he saw was larger than Pluto. He named the object Eris. This discovery caused astronomers to talk about what makes a planet a true planet. A group of astronomers, that name objects in space, decided that Pluto was not really a planet because of its size and location in space. So Pluto and objects similar to it are now called dwarf planets (Netting). Eris is larger, made of the same ice and rock mixture, and is more massive than Pluto. With this finding, the idea that we have nine planets in the Solar System began