The Solar System - Pluto - Belts, Tails, Showers - Part 3

Discussion in 'Education & Personal Growth' started by kkrish, May 10, 2019.

  1. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Pluto
    space.com.jpg

    Image courtesy: Space.com

    In 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered a new planet beyond Neptune. In England, 11-year Venetia Burney suggested the name Pluto. Her grandfather mentioned this to one of his astronomer friends, who passed it on to the necessary authorities, and the rest is history.

    Pluto enjoyed the status as the Sun’s ninth planet till 2006 when the International Astronomical Union met in Prague, and after much deliberation made a difficult decision. The IAU announced that Pluto will no longer be considered a planet.

    This decision was made after the discovery of Eris which turned out to be about 27% bigger than Pluto, along with other small objects discovered earlier, in the area beyond the orbit of Neptune, known as the Kuiper belt. These object were reclassified as dwarf-planets.

    237596505_81cc657db1.jpg

    Image courtesy: flickr (anuragjain)

    The entire humanity was sad to learn about Pluto’s demotion. However, the inevitable was accepted and everyone sought solace that Pluto now enjoys having three names – dwarf-planet, trans-Neptunian object, and Kuiper Belt object.

    In January 2006 the spacecraft New Horizons launched into space to explore Pluto and other KBOs.

    It took the spacecraft almost ten years to fly close to Pluto, and in summer of 2015 New Horizons began to send pictures of Pluto to Earth.

    The pictures and information are helping scientists learn more about the dwarf planet. Scientists found that Pluto is two-thirds (2/3) rock and one-third (1/3) ice.

    Here are some interesting facts on Pluto

    Pluto is 2/3 the width of Earth’s moon at about 1,400 miles (2,380 km) wide.

    One day on Pluto is 6.5 days on Earth and one year on Pluto is 248 years on Earth.

    Its orbital path is unique. While the orbit is elliptical it does not place Sun at its center like that of the other eight major planets. In addition, the elliptical path is a slightly tilted orbital plane at 17 degrees against rest of the planetary orbital planes.
    planet facts.org.jpg

    Image courtesy: planetfacts.org

    This means that the dwarf planet is closer to the Sun at 29.7 AU, bringing it closer to the Sun than Neptune (which is 30 AU from the Sun) and crosses Neptune’s path. For about 20 years (1979-1999) Pluto was closer to the Sun than Neptune. Pluto’s farthest point from the sun is 49.3 AU which puts it in the Kuiper belt area. Therefore on an average, Pluto is 39.5 AUs from the Sun which is about 5.9 billion km.

    Pluto is very cold. Scientists believe the temperature on Pluto is about minus 230 Celsius or minus 375 to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Pluto has a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. The atmosphere has a blue tint and distinct layers of haze.
    nasa.jpg

    Image courtesy:NASA

    Pluto has about one-fifteenth the gravity of Earth. That means a person who weighs 45 kilograms or 100 pounds on Earth would weigh 3 kilograms or about 7 pounds on Pluto.

    Pluto has five known moons. Its largest moon, named Charon (KAIR-uhn), discovered in 1978, is about half the size of Pluto. Astronomers discovered Pluto's four other moons -- Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx -- using the Hubble Space Telescope. Each of these four moons is much smaller than Charon.

    Pluto's moons spin faster than other moons. The moon Hydra spins 89 times for each time it orbits Pluto! And the moons wobble like spinning tops!

    Pluto is pale brownish-red in color which indicate the presence of tholins. This could be the result of Tholins forming by the interaction of ultraviolet light from the Sun with methane.

    There are very few craters on Pluto.

    Pluto is different on both sides. On the side facing Charon, there is a series of four dark areas located near the equator. On the opposite side, there is a very bright area that is shaped like a heart and one large elongated dark area along the equator.

    Close up images of Pluto's surface shows tall water ice mountains, covered with layers of frozen methane and nitrogen. The average surface temperature for Pluto is around 40 Kelvin. At such low temperatures, water ice behaves like rock and can rise up to great heights without collapsing.
    nasa .jpg

    Image courtesy: NASA

    The Disney cartoon character Pluto, Mickey's faithful dog, made his debut in 1930, the same year Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet. There is speculation that Walt Disney named the animated dog after the recently discovered planet to capitalize on its popularity, but other accounts are less certain of a direct link.


    Information source: NASA
     
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    May be this is a great hint to those who research on climate change to restore normalcy in South and North pole and prevent giant ice mountains falling into the sea. If we can reduce carbon emission by 50%, the temperature here in this planet might reduce substantially.
     
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  3. Afresh

    Afresh Gold IL'ite

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    Thank you Mam,
    Thanks to this article, I got to read about Pluto and answered many questions that I had in mind about Pluto's demotion, since then , but couldn't muster up the intent to find out more about it.
    I have to admit, the I have missed the article on Kuiper Belt ( and this mention about it with reference to Pluto has piqued my interest) and I would now read that one soon :)
     
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  4. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Ture @Viswamitra .
    But where? Everywhere I turn they are cutting trees to build. My heart plummets all the time.
    We can only keep hoping, and fighting, and dreaming...
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2019
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  5. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you @Afresh
    I was sad for days when they said Pluto is not a planet :)
    Now I am ok.

    I posted Kuiper belt last week... thanks for reading it.
     
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  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    @kkrish
    It is quite interesting to know all these about Pluto and we get images from the vehicle that took over a decade to reach the planet.
    2. Now I know the orbits too intersect of Neptune And Pluto and the plane of the orbit inclined to the planes of orbits of other planets and yet the planets themselves do not collide with each other.
    3. What a design and how the creator went about creating this geometry and how long it took Him.
    Hats off you . Truly enlightened the layman.
    Thanks and Regards
    God - in Varaha avatar did YOUR second step conquered these planets?
     
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  7. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you @Thyagarajan sir.
    Yes, it is amazing that the two planets have not collided. May be there were other KBOs that collided earlier on, we do not know.
    The last I read was that the Universe was created less than a fraction of a second.
    That fast. The Big Bang Theory.

    Here is an article from
    space.com.

    The universe was born with the Big Bang as an unimaginably hot, dense point. When the universe was just 10-34 of a second or so old — that is, a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second in age — it experienced an incredible burst of expansion known as inflation, in which space itself expanded faster than the speed of light. During this period, the universe doubled in size at least 90 times, going from subatomic-sized to golf-ball-sized almost instantaneously.

    The work that goes into understanding the expanding universe comes from a combination of theoretical physics and direct observations by astronomers. However, in some cases astronomers have not been able to see direct evidence — such as the case of gravitational waves associated with the cosmic microwave background, the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. A preliminary announcement about finding these waves in 2014 was quickly retracted, after astronomers found the signal detected could be explained by dust in the Milky Way.

    According to NASA, after inflation the growth of the universe continued, but at a slower rate. As space expanded, the universe cooled and matter formed. One second after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with neutrons, protons, electrons, anti-electrons, photons and neutrinos.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2019
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  8. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Kamala @kkrish,

    you write about Pluto and I do not respond? Like all the people, well most anyways I was shattered - that itty bitty thing wanting to keep its place with all the biggies! How cute is that. Now, there is a generation or four or more of kids who do not even bring its name as a planet. Sigh! On the bright side, they have no conflict about it :)

    I know I don't say this often but thank you Kamala for bringing these our way, consistently!
     
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  9. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Thank you sister.
    2. I studied in physics that is sun releasing energy through n-p-n bombardment chain reaction and is considered still young.
    3. The question uppermost in mind is whether all planets including Star sun all born at the same time or at different epochs.
    4. Prof Hoyle Dr Narlikar of India shared Nobel for this gravitational theory. But I do not get what new axiom they propounded? Albert Eisenstein theorised universe shrinking one side and expand on the other side. In that case planets orbits might be shifting endangering life of planets....
    Omg mind boggling... diagression to something else..
    Good going. Planet lessons. Great enlightenment.
    God is behind npn chain reaction and so son is still young.
     
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  10. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you Srama.
    I like your description of that itty bitty thing. :) A true David amongst the Goliaths isnt it?
     
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