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Geography of Pluto. The geography of Pluto refers to the study and mapping of physical features across the dwarf planet Pluto. On 14 July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto. [1][2] During its brief flyby, New Horizons made detailed geographical measurements and observations of Pluto and its moons. [3]
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most- massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris.
Encompasses the dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. Cited distance is the 2:1 resonance with Neptune, generally regarded as the outer edge of the main Kuiper belt. [23] Heliosphere: 160 AU 2.39×10 10: 10.38: Maximum extent of the solar wind and the interplanetary medium. [24] [25] Scattered disc: 195.3 AU 2.92×10 10: 10.47
Geology of Pluto. The geology of Pluto consists of the characteristics of the surface, crust, and interior of Pluto. Because of Pluto's distance from Earth, in-depth study from Earth is difficult. Many details about Pluto remained unknown until 14 July 2015, when New Horizons flew through the Pluto system and began transmitting data back to ...
The coordinates are given relative to Earth's celestial equator and the vernal equinox as they existed at J2000 (2000 January 1 12:00:00 TT) which is a plane fixed in inertial space now called the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF). Many poles precess or otherwise move relative to the ICRF, so their coordinates will change.
Astronomical coordinate systems. A star 's galactic, ecliptic, and equatorial coordinates, as projected on the celestial sphere. Ecliptic and equatorial coordinates share the March equinox as the primary direction, and galactic coordinates are referred to the galactic center. The origin of coordinates (the "center of the sphere") is ambiguous ...
Pluto, discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, is an interesting target for planetary exploration, but Pluto presents significant challenges for exploration because of its small mass and great distance from Earth. In 1964, Gary Flandro of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory proposed a mission called Grand Tour, taking advantage of the fact that an ...
A simulated view of the Pluto–Charon system showing that Pluto orbits a point outside itself. Also visible is the mutual tidal locking between the two bodies. Charon and Pluto orbit each other every 6.387 days. The two objects are gravitationally locked to one another, so each keeps the same face towards the other. This is a case of mutual ...