First, what is Pluto? Everyone knows that this is the ninth planet of the solar system, but this is no longer the case. It was considered as such until 2006, starting with its discovery in 1930. On this moment it is one of the largest dwarf planets. In general, there is a brief introduction, but now let's look at interesting facts about Pluto that many do not know.

We still have a lot to learn about this potential new solar brother, but we do know that it is huge - at least 10 times as massive as Earth. The astronomers who discovered it even called it "fat". And the fact that such a huge body went unnoticed just shows how little we know about our own solar system and how much science is left to teach us.

But in a curious twist of fate, the man who robbed the planet's solar system is now able to give it a new one. Brown, working with his astronomer Konstantin Batygin, Brown announced in The Astronomical Journal that the unusual orbital behavior of 13 trans-Neptunian objects was strong evidence for the existence of a massive distant planet: "We realized that the only way we could get all the wobble in one direction is if a massive planet holds them in place."

planet name

Who knows why the planet is called Pluto? And knowing this, you will be very surprised.

For the first time, as already mentioned, the planet was discovered in 1930. Then, a competition for its name was announced in the world. Funny enough, space scientists asked the public to come up with a name for a space object.

The name itself was coined by one of the Oxford students, namely 11 summer girl Venice Bernie. As you know, Pluto is one of the Gods of the Underworld in ancient mythology. That is why, since the planet itself was dark, lifeless and distant, it occurred to the girl to give her such a name. She received £5 as a reward.

The absence of Pluto from the list of planets has long been a sore point for many space enthusiasts. Here we hope that Planet Nine can finally bring them to close. Unlike Pluto and Eris, Brown and Batygin believe that Planet Nine is a complete planet. Brown even told the New Yorker that the proposed body would be "larger than a planet than anything else in the solar system." After all, what we now call planets are objects that can gravitationally dominate their surroundings.

All about the satellites of the planet

Pluto is a slave to Neptune's gravitational influence. By area, Planet Nine dominates the solar system more than any other known planet - just because of that, we can infer its existence. And because of that, we're pretty sure it's not a small object: it's at least ten times more massive than Earth, and five thousand times more massive than Pluto.

By the way, it was originally planned to give the name Percival or Zeus. The current name was officially patented on March 24, 1930.

Sun and Pluto

Just because of the location of Pluto relative to the Sun, a number of interesting facts about the planet can be distinguished:

Pluto has an atmosphere

And his predicted size tells us something important about his physical make-up. The larger the planet, the thicker its atmosphere becomes as it accumulates more and more gaseous elements in a process known as core accretion. This is thought to be why rocky planets like Earth and Mars can reach a certain size before they become gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn. The ice giants seem to be sort of in between: their atmospheres are thick and made of mostly the same material as the gas giants, but nowhere near as large.

As you know, Pluto is the farthest from the Sun, and therefore, the illumination on it is somewhat reminiscent of our moonlight. Although not surprising, given the distance between them is almost 6 billion kilometers (which is 40 times more than the distance to the Earth). Thanks to this, it is possible to observe starry sky around the clock.
Such a distance provokes a temperature difference, unlike the globe. Thus, the temperature regime of the planet fluctuates mainly from -190 to -200 degrees Celsius. By the way, some 70 degrees more and the mark would approach a full 0 (which is considered an indicator of 0 Fahrenheit scale)
And another factor, which is also due to the large distance. Because of which the orbit of the planet is also huge. Scientists estimate that it will take Pluto about 246 Earth years to orbit the sun once. By the way, only in 2178, for the first time in history, since its discovery, it will make the first circle in its orbit.
Speaking of orbit. The results of the research showed that the planet has the most elongated orbit, and in addition, it is located in a different plane, in relation to other planets in the solar system.
Unlike the globe, the sun rises here from the opposite side, i.e. in the West, and sits respectively in the East. Thus, we can conclude that the planets rotate in different directions.
More about sunrise and sunset. The planet itself rotates much slower than the Earth, and therefore, a day here lasts about 7 days.
Directly the sunlight itself reaches the planet in about 5 hours.
In addition, Pluto itself is the tenth largest celestial body that orbits the sun.

What would happen if Pluto was closer to the Sun?

As we have already understood, the planet is quite far from the largest star in the galaxy. But what would be the hypotheses, attitudes towards it, and in total what would happen to the planet itself if it were a little closer?

The size of Planet Nine, larger than any rocky planet but smaller than any gas giant, suggests that it may fall into this strange category. Scientists are divided over how ice giants form, with most models causing problems for more accepted models of how gas giants form. As a result, ice giants remain the subject of heated debate in the scientific community, so the confirmed plant ninth could provide a ton of new information about these planetary oddballs.

Even in astronomical terms, Planet Nine is a staggering far away - its average distance from the Sun is 56 billion miles, 20 times the distance from the Sun to Neptune, the furthest from the current planets. Reaching nine in the outermost phase of its orbit could take up to 350 years. This incredible distance may help explain why no one has noticed Planet Nine until now. Based on their calculations, Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin believe that their hypothetical planet will indeed be visible through most rear telescopes, but only when its orbit brings it closer to Earth.

For starters, if it were a little closer, it would not be classified as a dwarf planet.
Also from the surface, the Sun seemed to be larger, and gave more light. At the same moment, it can be seen as a small dot somewhere in the distance.
Although now it is the second closest dwarf planet, it would have been the first, or not considered a dwarf at all.
By the way, sometimes it is not taken seriously at all, but is considered a satellite of the Sun star.
But here is another hypothesis. Since the planet itself consists of ice (mostly), if it were closer, it would turn into a comet.
Its orbit is elongated, and therefore the location, or rather the distance, is constantly changing, while the atmosphere freezes when moving away, and forms gas when approaching, which is quite interesting. And it does not rotate in orbit at all.
Due to its curved orbit, it changed places with Neptune several times during its existence, for example, from 1979 to 1999 it was the eighth planet, not the ninth.

Since no one has yet noticed Planet Nine in the backyard, we can assume that it is currently at a more distant point in its orbit, although Brown and Batygin still believe that they can be detected using extremely powerful observational telescopes.

This would be the longest orbital period of any planet. As is often the case with astronomy, the size of the number can make it difficult to visualize exactly what it means. It sounds crazy, but in a solar system where a day can last more than a year on some planets, it makes sense. The extreme remoteness of Planet Nine makes it stand out, literally and figuratively. The comparative distance almost makes the rest of the solar system look like a small cozy neighborhood, and Planet Nine is a strange hermit who lives in the forest.

planetary atmosphere

To begin with, we note that Pluto is the only dwarf planet that has an atmosphere. Enough interesting feature maybe there is water on it?

Okay, let's move on to the features and interesting facts about the atmosphere:

The atmosphere consists of methane, nitrogen and carbon.
By itself, it is quite low, which prevents a person from breathing.
Due to the peculiarities of the atmosphere of the planet, it has a high gravity, due to which the weight of a person on it is significantly reduced. Thus, an individual weighing 80 kilograms on Earth would weigh about 5 kilograms there.
They discovered the presence of an atmosphere here already in 1985, 55 years after the discovery. This was done during the closing of some other planets and stars by him.
It should also be noted that there are north and south poles.
And besides, sublimation of ice periodically occurs on Pluto, due to which the atmosphere expands.
Many scientists today are trying to achieve the status of a planet for a given celestial body, using as arguments the presence of the same atmosphere, in addition, the possession of poles and satellites.
According to some beliefs, Charon (satellite) and Pluto have one atmosphere for two.
The pressure on the planet is approximately 0.3 Pa.
Some still argue that this is not a planet, but a satellite that has peeled off Neptune and created its own atmosphere.

However, this may not always be the case, and as usual, we can probably blame it all on the solar system's conceived stubborn favorite, Jupiter. One possible explanation is that Jupiter could have captured this other planet in its huge gravitational field when the solar system was still quite young. As a result, the poor fifth giant would have been taken out of the orbit of the Sun and thrown into the most remote regions of the solar system. We can't be sure if this is what happened to Planet Nine, but the discovery of a giant planet lurking in the farthest reaches of the solar system is certainly a stimulus to the theory.

We should probably start with the fact that the planet itself has an incredibly small mass, more specifically 1.31 * 10 22 kg, which is approximately 0.23% of the total mass of the Earth (and 6 times less than the Moon). By the way, there are some assumptions that it has a peculiar system of orbital rings, although it does not have an exclusively proper orbit. Although this is not an exact expression at all, it is constantly changing, although even the slightest changes in it can be predicted for millions of years in advance. And this is rather strange, since the movement of the planet is absolutely chaotic.

The problem with the space is that it is very, very large. So, naturally, one of the greatest obstacles to interstellar exploration is that we simply don't have enough fuel to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. After all, there are no rest stations on the Space Highway, and certainly no places to refuel. Planet Nine could work it out. Just as the Apollo 13 astronauts used the Moon's gravity to flick them back to Earth, future space explorers could use the Nine's enormous gravitational pull to accelerate their spacecraft to great speeds, propelling them farther into the void.

Well, now for more facts:

The very idea of finding a planet that could be located behind Neptune, known at that time, came from the American astronomer Percival Lowell. And as you can see, the idea was a success.
By the way, a little more about the mass, it is so small that it absolutely does not affect the neighboring planets, in particular Neptune and Uranus. We must not forget that initially scientists assumed quite the opposite.
Everyone knows that most celestial objects are discovered using complex mathematical calculations, but not this one. It was found only thanks to the keen eyesight of one of the astronomers - K. Tombo, who discovered it in 1930 (which was already mentioned earlier). In addition, for the discovery of this celestial body, the scientist received the Herschel medal.
Almost forgot, the existence of Pluto was known 15-20 years before its discovery. More precisely, one of the astronomers predicted it. It was Percival Lowell, who died in 1916.
Maybe someone will be interested - the average density on the planet is 2000 kg / m 3, and the diameter is 2390 kilometers.
One more thing, as scientists suggest, the development of the simplest organisms is possible on the planet, but so far not one flying object launched from the earth has reached the surface. Therefore, it is impossible to prove the hypothesis today.
Pluto has the largest eccentricity of 0.244 among the other known planets, and the average speed of movement reaches 5 kilometers per second

So it would only be really useful in certain directions, which may not have been where we want to go. Also, if Nine is a low density planet such as Neptune, the boost from such a slingshot will be quite small. However, this idea cannot be ruled out until we learn more about the new planet itself.

It seems that every time in our solar system a new discovery occurs, various conspiracy theorists travel on their own to declare it a potential harbinger of the apocalypse. If the conspirators are to be believed, this is a mythical "planet of death" whose existence has long been hidden by the forces it will be, as it will one day pass close enough for its gravitational effects to unleash apocalyptic earthquakes and tsunamis on an unsuspecting Earth. Admittedly, it's not entirely clear how Planet Nine could have done this from its orbit at the farthest reaches of the solar system, but let's not let science get in the way. good conspiracy.

All about the satellites of the planet

In total, the planet is accompanied by five satellites:

Hydra.
Nikta.
Kerber.
Charon.

And you can also highlight a number of interesting facts that relate directly to them, and the relationship with Pluto itself. But let's get closer to the point:

The first fact, and probably the most interesting, is that Charon and Pluto are almost the same size. Because of this, they are sometimes called a double planet. By the way, as many believe, as soon as the IAU recognizes such a term, then the title "dwarf planet" can be forgotten.
Speaking in general about the system of satellites, it is characterized as the most compact, and at the same time empty.
Once again mentioning Charon, it should be noted that he moves with his "master" in the same orbit. And the satellite itself, presumably has geysers on the surface.
In terms of their strength, the moons of Nyx and Hydra are about 5,000 times weaker than Pluto itself.
And you can notice an interesting relationship with the satellites, since they always face the planet on the same side, as it does to them. The same can be said about the Earth with the Moon.
The most important satellite, Charon, was named after the carrier of the dead souls of the underworld. Quite symbolically, given that the planet itself is named after the ancient Greek god of the underworld.

And there's a very small chance they're right

More sensible lunatics claim that Planet Nine Earth's gravity could drive horned asteroids towards Earth, resulting in potentially devastating meteor strikes. Scientifically, this theory carries more weight: the gravitational effects of Planet Nine are being documented. So, within the bounds of possibility, one or two of these objects could cut their way to Earth. But that's still not all that's possible - remember that the space is still very, very large. It's possible, but far from it.

The planet itself, even including satellites, is smaller than Mercury.

By the way, due to its appearance, as well as the names received in honor of the deities of the underworld in Indian society, Pluto is called Yama (the name of one of the main guardians of hell in Buddhism). In turn, in Asia, in the exact translation, its name sounds like "the star of the underground king." And in total, his companions consider him a symbol of rebirth and death, the beginning and end of all things.
Name of the planet Pluto
Astronomer Scott Sheppard said that Planet Nine could "throw a few small objects into the inner solar system every so often, but greatly increase the chances of a mass extinction." Before we all get carried away and start shooting at Matt Damon on Kuiper's belt, let's remember to be careful. At present, Planet Nine is the best hypothetical explanation for the unusual clustering behavior of icy objects outside the orbit of Neptune. Even the astronomers who discovered it strive to play it safe and manage their expectations.

Planet exploration

As with other celestial bodies, as with Pluto, a lot of research has been done. Hundreds of attempts to understand what this object is and how to perceive it, and along with this, we also want to provide a number of interesting points:

And we are slowly approaching the end of the topic. Finally, there are the most interesting facts about Pluto, which most obviously do not know and will be surprised. We left only 13 facts that will be interesting. Well, let's start:

According to Mike Brown, it's entirely possible that clustering may be nothing more than a remarkable coincidence of ugliness. In fact, ugly coincidences have long history in astronomy. In the early 20th century, Percival Lowell announced that Neptune's orbit had been altered by the gravitational pull of a previously undiscovered giant planet. In fact, there was no planet changing Neptune's orbit at all. Lowell's calculations were simply based on wrong data, and it was a huge coincidence that Pluto was right where he thought he was.

So, oddly enough, remember that Planet Nine has not yet been seen, and it remains possible that it may not actually be there. At the same time, the probability that the behavior of clusters is a coincidence is calculated by only 007%. As far as we know, there is nothing else with enough mass to disrupt the orbit of objects in this way. That doesn't mean it's definitely a planet, but scientists have few plausible alternative explanations. There have been speculations about additional planets in the past, but astrophysicist Chris Lintott Strazhu said, Brown and Batygin's theory is "the most detailed and most convincing analysis to date."

Who knew that chemical element periodic table named after this planet? Most probably thought that it was quite the opposite.
The symbol for the designation of the planet contains two letters P and L, which are intertwined when writing.
By the way, according to scientists, the surface of the planet was previously covered with water.
Pluto is brown. And on the basis of photographs of satellites and shuttles sent to him, a map of the planet was created, on which scientists at the Lowell Observatory have been working for a long time.
And a rather interesting fact is that the only planet discovered by an American specialist was Pluto. And how, perhaps, it is a shame that he is no longer included in the series of planets.
Have you heard of the word "splurge"? It is used in foreign slang to mean "lower" or "downgrade" as happened with Pluto.
By the way, in the state of Illinois (USA) a decree was issued that Pluto must be considered a planet. Eh, Americans can't bear the fact that they don't have great achievements in astronomy.
Have you seen the astrological symbol of the planet? It looks like a trident with a circle inside.
It can also be noted that soon after the announcement of the discovery of the planet, a lot of fantastic literature came out in which it was called the end, the completion of the solar system.
Now a little about the names. The first is that since 2008 all dwarf planets have been called plutonoids after Pluto.
And remember everyone's favorite Disney cartoons (probably already understood what the conversation is about), if not, then be sure to look. Everyone's favorite dog Pluto. Yes, he got his name also in honor of the planet, since cartoons about him began to appear precisely in the 30s of the last century.
And finally, America's April Fool's joke in 1976: “BBC Radio announces that Pluto will soon have a gravitational interaction with other objects in the solar system. Residents of the states, be prepared, with such an interaction, gravity on Earth can change for a moment and you will be thrown into the air. Funny isn't it? And all the people believed.

Even after this article is written, it appears more information; Batygin and Brown are already predicting more objects lurking out there, too far away to be seen by conventional means, but circling the Sun in exactly the same way. And even if Planet Nine does not exist, all the hype will still be an incredible reminder of the simple amazement and mystery of space.

Pluto doesn't have a "clean orbit"

Patrick Coton is a writer from England. So what do we know about Pluto and what interesting tidbits can we arm you with this Thursday? The following facts are taken from Space Facts and Random History. The dwarf planet Pluto is named after the ancient Roman god of the underworld. In Roman mythology, Pluto was the son of Saturn, who, with his three brothers, controlled the world: Jupiter controlled the sky, Neptune controlled the sea, and Pluto ruled the underworld.

Conclusion

Well, that's all the interesting things about a planet like Pluto over. All the facts have been exhausted (at least the most interesting and useful) and in conclusion, we offer you to watch a fascinating video about what the planet Pluto is.

Incredible Facts

Pluto - second closest dwarf planet to the Sun.

From 1930, when it was discovered, until 2006, it was considered the ninth planet in the solar system. Now it is the second largest dwarf planet (the first is Eris).

Here are some more interesting facts about Pluto.

Planet Pluto

1. Pluto needs 246.04 Earth years to complete an orbit around the sun.

2. It is very cold on Pluto, on average from -190 to -200 degrees Celsius.

3. Pluto has weak gravity, and a person weighing 45 kg will weigh only 3 kg on Pluto.

4. sunlight on Pluto reaches the same intensity as moonlight on Earth. This is because he is about 5,945,900,000 km.

Name of the planet Pluto

5. When Pluto Was First opened in 1930, a competition was announced for the names of the new planet. Then 11-year-old girl Venetia Burney from Oxford, UK was named "Pluto", since the planet was dark and distant, like the god of the underworld. The girl received 5 pounds as a reward.

6. Pluto is smaller than Mercury and seven moons in the solar system, including Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Io, Europa, Triton and our Moon.

Photograph of Neptune taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

7. In 20 years of its 248-year orbit, Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. Between 1979 and 1999, Pluto was the eighth planet and Neptune was the ninth.

8. Since Pluto was the ancient Roman god of the underworld, Pluto's main moon is Charon named after the carrier of dead souls along the river Styx to the underworld. Pluto's other moons are Nix, Styx, Hydra, and Kerberos.