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This planet was not known to the ancient but was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. With our telescopes, Pluto appears as a small dim star. Not terribly impressive. There are also debates as to whether or not Pluto should be considered a planet: it is smaller than the moon and its orbit does not lie in the same plane as the rest of the planets' orbits. In the later 20th century, two more Pluto-like objects were found: Sedna and Quaoar.
Mass -- 1.3 x 1022 kg (0.0022 earth masses)
Radius -- 715 mi (1,151 km or 0.180 earth radii)
Distance from the sun (average) -- 3,670,050,000 mi (5,906,380,000 km or 39.482 AU)
Gravity -- 2.7 ft/sq. sec (0.81 m/sq. sec) An adult weighing 140 lbs on Earth would weigh 12 lbs on Pluto.
Maximum surface temperature -- -369 °F (below zero)
Minimum surface temperature -- -387 °F (below zero)
Orbital velocity -- 10,623 mph (17,096 km/hr or 0.425 earth speed)
Orbital eccentricity -- 0.2488 This is how off-circular the moon's orbit around the Earth is. An eccentricity of 0.00 would be a perfect circle. An eccentricity of nearly 1 would be a very flattened oval. For a fun project on ellipses and eccentricity, click here.
Sidereal rotation -- 153.3 hr (6.4 earth days) A day on Pluto would be equivalent to around 6 1/2 Earth days.
Sidereal orbit -- 2,173,272 hr (90,553 earth days or 247.9 earth years) A year on Pluto would take just under 248 Earth years.
Moons -- Charon
For more information on Pluto, please visit SEDS' website http://www.nineplanets.org/pluto.html and NASA's website http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Pluto&Display=Overview. Both websites are wonderful resources.
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payday loans with bad credit Website last updated March 16, 2006. Hosted by Anthony Watts, KMXI Radio. Webmasters Tiara Norris and Brendan Diamond. |
