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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.
In Roman mythology, Pluto can render himself invisible, his name's first two letters are Percival Lowell's initials, and it was proposed by an 11-year-old school girl. In order to avoid the name changes suffered by Neptune, the name was proposed to both the American Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society , both of which ...
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 ...
Pluto was considered a planet up until 2006, when researchers at the International Astronomical Union voted to "demote" it to dwarf planet.
Similarly, Pluto may cross the orbit of Neptune, but Neptune long ago locked Pluto and its attendant Kuiper belt objects, called plutinos, into a 3:2 resonance, i.e., they orbit the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits. The orbits of these objects are entirely dictated by Neptune's gravity, and thus, Neptune is gravitationally dominant.
As Pluto, the planet of growth, and evolution, moves into the sign of Aquarius, astrologers are bracing themselves for individual change and change on a global scale.
The Italian form of the name is Pluto, taken by some commentators [195] to refer specifically to Plutus as the god of wealth who would preside over the torment of those who hoarded or squandered it in life. [196] Dante's Pluto is greeted as "the great enemy" [197] and utters the famously impenetrable line Papé Satàn, papé Satàn aleppe.
The United States elected its first Black president, Barack Obama; the spirit of change was in the air. Ah, but Pluto can be a trickster. The work was clearly not done; there was much more to be ...