In comparison to the other planets in our solar system, Pluto has always been a bit different, much smaller than the rest and it has three moons, the largest moon is called Charon orbiting it in proportion to its size, Nix and Hydra the smaller and it also has the most inclined and eccentric orbit which is shaped like an egg which causes it to get closer to the sun at some point on the orbit and further at other point.
** Pluto's Eccentric Orbit**
Astronomers after discovering Neptune in 1846 were convinced there was another planet termed Planet X. This search was spear headed by Percival Lowell at the Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, he was convinced that there was another plant perturbing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, but he passed away before he could prove his theory. The Observatory assistant Clyde Tombaugh, continued this task to locate this Planet X and in 1930 he took a picture of an object that seemed to validate Lowell's assumption, this image was shown to scientists and the object was named the 9th planet.
**Original Photo of Pluto's Discovery**
But the questions remained was Pluto the Planet X the planet they were looking for?? Some scientists argued that Pluto does not have enough mass to perturb the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, it was later realized that it was not, as its location was predicted using inaccurate estimates of Neptune's mass, so if Pluto was not the planet that was sort can it still be called a planet?? The term planet was earlier defined as "wander of the sky", it was the things that moved relative to the stars, so to the ancients the moon was a planet so was the Sun but the Earth was not, but when it was found that the Earth moved around the Sun and the moon orbited the Earth, the definition of planet was changed and the Earth became a Planet and the Sun and Moon were out and then there were 6, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury and then Uranus and Neptune were discovered based on this new definition of planets. Although it was found to be smaller that our moon, Pluto was originally thought to be as large as Mars so Tombaugh discovery was dubbed the 9th Planet called Pluto.
**Hubble's Photograph of Pluto showing the light and dark areas**
For more than 75years Pluto has held the title the 9th planet in our solar system, so what changed??
Meet Mike Brown CALTECH Astronomer and the man who killed Pluto
CALTECH astronomer equipped with the Palomar observatory 48inch telescope was looking for Pluto sized worlds at the far reaches of our solar system and in 2005 he found one, an object bigger than Pluto with its own moon both orbiting the sun. So if Pluto is a planet and has been for 75 years, why wouldn't Brown's object be a planet too?? Brown's discovery is 5% bigger than Pluto and probably made up of the same material rock on the inside and ice on the outside and a thin layer of frost on the outside which sometimes puffs up into the atmosphere and sometimes it doesn't, It has a moon the orbits it once every 16 to 17 Earth days and Pluto also has a moon that orbits it in about the same time frame, these are just some of the similarities Brown's object has with Pluto. Brown's object was named Eris after the Greek god of discord and its moon was named Dysnomia.
** Artist impression of Eris and Dysnomia. Eris is the main object, Dysnomia the small grey disk just above it. The flaring object top-left is the Sun**
Brown's object was named appropriately as it set in motion debates and arguments in the scientific community on the definition of a planet, if Eris will become our 10th planet or will Pluto sized planets be reclassified as a whole. This argument was tabled in 2006 at the International Astronomical union meeting in Prague and put to a vote and the Term planet was redefined. This definition removed Pluto and Pluto sized planets from being termed planets, this had nothing to do with Pluto becoming less important or too small the issue was pressed because more was learned about Eris and other large Kuiper belt objects. The kipper belt is a 3.5 billion mile wide region in the outer solar system near Pluto and is home to hundreds of thousands of icy objects, the first of which was discovered in 1992.
By the IAU definition " A planet is a spherical object that orbits the sun and clears out the area around its orbital path, since as the area around Pluto is filled with other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto in the instance is not classified as a planet and thus ended its 75year reign as the 9th planet in our solar system which now comprised of 8 planets and objects like Pluto and Eris are now termed dwarf planets and under this new classification Ceres the largest asteroid in our solar system is now classified as a dwarf planet.
The IAU vote was just supposed to redefine the term planet and in the process it eliminated one, there are scientists who refuse to agree with this conclusion that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet and keep trying to get back its title as planet.
[Source: The History Channel]
Astronomers after discovering Neptune in 1846 were convinced there was another planet termed Planet X. This search was spear headed by Percival Lowell at the Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, he was convinced that there was another plant perturbing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, but he passed away before he could prove his theory. The Observatory assistant Clyde Tombaugh, continued this task to locate this Planet X and in 1930 he took a picture of an object that seemed to validate Lowell's assumption, this image was shown to scientists and the object was named the 9th planet.
But the questions remained was Pluto the Planet X the planet they were looking for?? Some scientists argued that Pluto does not have enough mass to perturb the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, it was later realized that it was not, as its location was predicted using inaccurate estimates of Neptune's mass, so if Pluto was not the planet that was sort can it still be called a planet?? The term planet was earlier defined as "wander of the sky", it was the things that moved relative to the stars, so to the ancients the moon was a planet so was the Sun but the Earth was not, but when it was found that the Earth moved around the Sun and the moon orbited the Earth, the definition of planet was changed and the Earth became a Planet and the Sun and Moon were out and then there were 6, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury and then Uranus and Neptune were discovered based on this new definition of planets. Although it was found to be smaller that our moon, Pluto was originally thought to be as large as Mars so Tombaugh discovery was dubbed the 9th Planet called Pluto.
- Because of its great distance from the sun, Pluto takes its name from the Roman god of the underworld
- At its closest orbit Pluto is 2.7billion miles from the earth
- Its diameter is 1485 miles
- It takes 248 earth years to orbit the sun
- The length of a day on Pluto is 6.4earth days
For more than 75years Pluto has held the title the 9th planet in our solar system, so what changed??
Meet Mike Brown CALTECH Astronomer and the man who killed Pluto
CALTECH astronomer equipped with the Palomar observatory 48inch telescope was looking for Pluto sized worlds at the far reaches of our solar system and in 2005 he found one, an object bigger than Pluto with its own moon both orbiting the sun. So if Pluto is a planet and has been for 75 years, why wouldn't Brown's object be a planet too?? Brown's discovery is 5% bigger than Pluto and probably made up of the same material rock on the inside and ice on the outside and a thin layer of frost on the outside which sometimes puffs up into the atmosphere and sometimes it doesn't, It has a moon the orbits it once every 16 to 17 Earth days and Pluto also has a moon that orbits it in about the same time frame, these are just some of the similarities Brown's object has with Pluto. Brown's object was named Eris after the Greek god of discord and its moon was named Dysnomia.
** Artist impression of Eris and Dysnomia. Eris is the main object, Dysnomia the small grey disk just above it. The flaring object top-left is the Sun**
Brown's object was named appropriately as it set in motion debates and arguments in the scientific community on the definition of a planet, if Eris will become our 10th planet or will Pluto sized planets be reclassified as a whole. This argument was tabled in 2006 at the International Astronomical union meeting in Prague and put to a vote and the Term planet was redefined. This definition removed Pluto and Pluto sized planets from being termed planets, this had nothing to do with Pluto becoming less important or too small the issue was pressed because more was learned about Eris and other large Kuiper belt objects. The kipper belt is a 3.5 billion mile wide region in the outer solar system near Pluto and is home to hundreds of thousands of icy objects, the first of which was discovered in 1992.
By the IAU definition " A planet is a spherical object that orbits the sun and clears out the area around its orbital path, since as the area around Pluto is filled with other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto in the instance is not classified as a planet and thus ended its 75year reign as the 9th planet in our solar system which now comprised of 8 planets and objects like Pluto and Eris are now termed dwarf planets and under this new classification Ceres the largest asteroid in our solar system is now classified as a dwarf planet.
The IAU vote was just supposed to redefine the term planet and in the process it eliminated one, there are scientists who refuse to agree with this conclusion that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet and keep trying to get back its title as planet.
[Source: The History Channel]
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