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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]
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 Earth. [1]
On February 12, 2015, NASA released new images of Pluto (taken from January 25 to 31) from the approaching probe. [ 133 ] [ 134 ] New Horizons was more than 203 million km (126 million mi) away from Pluto when it began taking the photos, which showed Pluto and its largest moon, Charon.
Planetary discriminants for Ceres, Pluto and Eris taken from Soter, 2006. Planetary discriminants of all other bodies calculated from the Kuiper belt mass estimate given by Lorenzo Iorio. [100] ^ Saturn satellite info taken from NASA Saturnian Satellite Fact Sheet. [101]
The cancellation of Pluto Kuiper Express angered some of the space-exploration scientific community, which led to groups, such as The Planetary Society, lobbying NASA for either a reboot of the Pluto Kuiper Express or a restart of a mission to Pluto. Internal divisions within NASA, including its Scientific Advisory Council, also voiced support ...
Pluto's four small circumbinary moons orbit Pluto at two to four times the distance of Charon, ranging from Styx at 42,700 kilometres to Hydra at 64,800 kilometres from the barycenter of the system. They have nearly circular prograde orbits in the same orbital plane as Charon. All are much smaller than Charon.
Ernest Clare Bower, American astronomer who calculated one of the first orbits of Pluto: 2024-09-11 · WGPSN: Brinton: Henry Brinton, NASA administrator instrumental in Pluto studies — Burney: Venetia Burney, who proposed the name of Pluto: 2017-08-08 · WGPSN: Coradini: Angioletta Coradini, Italian planetary scientist: 2022-05-07 · WGPSN ...