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Pluto has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit, ranging from 30 to 49 astronomical units (4.5 to 7.3 billion kilometres; 2.8 to 4.6 billion miles) from the Sun. Light from the Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its orbital distance of 39.5 AU (5.91 billion km; 3.67 billion mi).
Composite exaggerated-color image of Pluto and its moon Charon.Separation not to scale 4 Vesta, an asteroid that was once a dwarf planet [4]. Starting in 1801, astronomers discovered Ceres and other bodies between Mars and Jupiter that for decades were considered to be planets.
The temperature gradient is estimated to be 2.2, [10] 3–15 [13] or 5.5 [8] degrees per km. It is a result of greenhouse effect , caused by methane . The mean temperature of the surface is 42±4 K (measured in 2005), [ 36 ] and the mean value for the whole atmosphere is 90 +25
The two moons are locked in a 4:3 mean-motion resonance with each other, meaning that while Titan makes four revolutions around Saturn, Hyperion makes exactly three. [44] With an average diameter of about 270 km, Hyperion is smaller and lighter than Mimas. [78]
This is known as the 2:3 (or 3:2) resonance, and it corresponds to a characteristic semi-major axis of about 39.4 AU. This 2:3 resonance is populated by about 200 known objects, [61] including Pluto together with its moons. In recognition of this, the members of this family are known as plutinos. Many plutinos, including Pluto, have orbits that ...
The dwarf planet Pluto has five natural satellites. [1] In order of distance from Pluto, they are Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. [2] Charon, the largest, is mutually tidally locked with Pluto, and is massive enough that Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a binary dwarf planet.
The spacing between the planets varies from conjunction to conjunction with most events being 0.5 to 1.3 degrees (30 to 78 arcminutes, or 1 to 2.5 times the width of a full moon). Very close conjunctions happen much less frequently (though the maximum of 1.3° is still close by inner planet standards): separations of less than 10 arcminutes ...
Five planets are going to be retrograde in the summer of 2024. Here are the dates for Mercury retrograde, Venus retrograde, Saturn retrograde, Neptune retrograde, Pluto retrograde and more.