The debate whether to include Pluto as a planet in our solar system is winding down with decreasing acrimony between astronomers, hobbyists, and other conspiracy theorists about the status of Pluto. You can still dispute whether you think Pluto is a real planet or is some other object. The overriding trend is clear. Recent discoveries about our solar system show that Pluto is a unique object when compared to the other eight planets in the solar system.
By the time the New Horizons mission makes its closest approach to Pluto there in June 2015, many more discoveries will arise, allowing Pluto to shine further in its own right. New Horizons will offer us the closest glimpse ever of Pluto.
Pluto can be classified as a system of objects, as if it is a binary dwarf planet in combination with Charon and its smaller moons. Both Pluto and Charon are tidally locked onto each other. Pluto makes a circular orbit about itself in step with the rotation that Charon makes around Pluto. The other objects rotating around the twins of Charon and Pluto are Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos. Each of these moons have small diameters, in the tens of kilometers, when compared to Charon.
By the time the New Horizons mission makes its closest approach to Pluto there in June 2015, many more discoveries will arise, allowing Pluto to shine further in its own right. New Horizons will offer us the closest glimpse ever of Pluto.
Pluto can be classified as a system of objects, as if it is a binary dwarf planet in combination with Charon and its smaller moons. Both Pluto and Charon are tidally locked onto each other. Pluto makes a circular orbit about itself in step with the rotation that Charon makes around Pluto. The other objects rotating around the twins of Charon and Pluto are Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos. Each of these moons have small diameters, in the tens of kilometers, when compared to Charon.
No comments:
Post a Comment