Pluto

This planet has held on to the list of planets in the solar system just 76 years. In 2005, scientists and amateur astronomers around the world solemnly celebrated 75 years since the discovery of this planet, and in 2006 it no longer considered a planet, and named just a space object.

We are talking about Pluto. What is this mysterious celestial body to which as yet has not got aids from Earth? What makes it interesting, unusual and what it means for the earthlings?

To open the planet to fix the fact of its existence, scientists have struggled for years, they know what they are looking for, guess what’s the distance, should be a planet, but it did not yield until 1930, when finally in January, Clyde Tombaugh, William, young researcher at the Harvard lab, was able to announce the opening of the new planet in the solar system. A few months newcomer remained without a name, a name for the new planet Pluto has been invited to eleven-year-girl, daughter of one of the professors, fond of Greek mythology. This contribution to the science brought schoolgirl Venice Bernie £ 5 as a reward for good name.

Now, when the planet was discovered and registered, to study it became systemic and systematic. Initially it was thought that Pluto is approximately the size of Earth, but over time, scientists realized that it is much smaller: its diameter is only 2,390 km. Accurate mass of Pluto is unknown, presumably it is small and is about two-tenths of the mass of the Moon. Pluto and was the smallest planet in the solar system, and lost in the size of many satellites known planets.

Pluto has a small atmosphere, a mixture in which nitrogen predominates and is icy solid. The temperature of the planet presumably -230,1 ° C. Pluto’s orbit motion around the sun is that sun is not at its center, so walking along the orbit, the planet at each point are at different distances from the star. The average distance of Pluto from the sun 5900 million km.

By the end of the seventies it became clear that Pluto is not alone in outer space: it has a satellite. The satellite named Charon. And in 2005, Pluto was discovered two satellites: Hydra and Nix. But by the time when these moons were discovered, Charon is no longer called a satellite of Pluto. It turned out that Charon does not revolve around Pluto, as it is necessary companion. A Pluto and Charon orbit each other. Rotation occurs in such a way that Charon and Pluto are rotated to each other by the same party.

So, it was found that for a long time, the two space objects was taken as one. Currently, many astronomers have decided to consider Pluto and Charon a double planet. The mystery of physical secrets of these two celestial objects and their unique relationship could shed light on many secrets of the solar system, so now these questions are in the area of attention of many scientists.

At the end of last century it was discovered many medium-sized space objects beyond Neptune’s orbit, which in their qualities were similar to Pluto. Scope of finding these objects became known as the Kuiper belt by the name of the scientist, who described the discovery. Since 2006, Pluto changed its status: now it is a space object, or a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt.