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Many TNOs are often just assumed to have Pluto's density of 2.0 g/cm 3, but it is just as likely that they have a comet-like density of only 0.5 g/cm 3. [ 4 ] For example, if a TNO is incorrectly assumed to have a mass of 3.59 × 10 20 kg based on a radius of 350 km with a density of 2 g/cm 3 but is later discovered to have a radius of only 175 ...
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.
The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt [1] and over 10,000 in the region beyond. [2] However, consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many large trans-Neptunian objects, as well as spectroscopic analysis of their surfaces, suggests that the number of dwarf planets may be much lower, perhaps only nine among ...
Now, new research suggests that Pluto and Charon briefly came together billions of years ago in a newly discovered “kiss and capture” collision. ... (Pluto has four smaller moons besides ...
For 76 years, Pluto was considered out solar system's ninth planet. So what caused it to lose its planetary status? Find out on this episode of "Space, Down to Earth"!
The mass of Eris can be calculated with much greater precision. Based on the accepted value for Dysnomia's period at the time—15.774 days [23] [68] —Eris is 27% more massive than Pluto. Using the 2011 occultation results, Eris has a density of 2.52 ± 0.07 g/cm 3, [g] substantially denser than Pluto, and thus must be composed largely of ...
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 ...
[82] [83] However, despite having been described as a "tenth planet" in an early NASA press release, [84] Eris (then known only as 2003 UB 313) is now classified as a dwarf planet. Only slightly more massive than Pluto, [85] Eris has a well-determined orbit that never brings it closer to Earth than 5.5 billion km (3.4 billion mi). [86]