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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.
Pluto is the only trans-Neptunian object with a known atmosphere. [7] Its closest analog is the atmosphere of Triton, although in some aspects it resembles even the atmosphere of Mars. [8] [9] The atmosphere of Pluto has been studied since the 1980s by way of earth-based observation of occultations of stars by Pluto [10] [11] and spectroscopy. [12]
"Pluto is the first planetary body we know of where the atmospheric energy budget is dominated by solid-phase haze particles instead of by gases." Pluto is way cooler than it should be, and now we ...
The definition of a planet has been a hot topic ever since a change kicked Pluto out of our planetary lineup in 2006. ... the work certainly accomplishes one important ... So, it’s still out of ...
At the time, it was thought that the atmosphere of Pluto would freeze and fall to the surface during winter, and so a lightweight spacecraft was desirable, as it would be able to reach Pluto before such an event would occur. One of the earliest concepts was for a 40-kilogram spacecraft that would reach Pluto in five to six years.
For 76 years, Pluto was considered our solar system's ninth planet — so, what caused it to lose its status?
It was used to integrate out to 845 million years – some 20% of the age of the Solar System. In 1988, Sussman and Wisdom found data using the Orrery that revealed that Pluto's orbit shows signs of chaos, due in part to its peculiar resonance with Neptune. [9] If Pluto's orbit is chaotic, then technically the whole Solar System is chaotic.
Pluto, along with many other dwarf planets in the outer solar system, is often thought of as dark, icy and barren – with a surface temperature of just −230°C. But now a new study, published ...