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The semi-major axis of Pluto's orbit varies between about 39.3 and 39.6 AU with a period of about 19,951 years, corresponding to an orbital period varying between 246 and 249 years. The semi-major axis and period are presently getting longer.
A Pluto orbiter/lander/sample return mission was proposed in 2003. The plan included a twelve-year trip from Earth to Pluto, mapping from orbit, multiple landings, a warm water probe, and possible in situ propellant production for another twelve-year trip back to Earth with samples. Power and propulsion would come from the bimodal MITEE nuclear ...
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 belongs to a group of objects that distantly orbit the sun called the Kuiper Belt, where thousands of icy remnants left over from the formation of the solar system linger. Eight of the 10 ...
In 1952, the museum relocated to a larger space in the Miami Women's Club building on North Bayshore Drive. At that time it was renamed Museum of Science and Natural History. [4] In 1953, the Guild of the Museum of Science was formed, adding volunteers to assist the staff, run the museum store, and conduct tours and outreach programs.
2015 – Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres making detailed measurements. [246] 2015 – New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto, providing the first ever sharp images of its surface, and its largest moon Charon. [247] 2017 – 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object crossing the Solar System, is identified. [248]
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.
NASA has released a map of Pluto's surface made from images recently taken by the New Horizons probe and it includes some quite mysterious features. Particularly notable is the lightened area ...