Pluto has a solid, icy-rock surface and is surrounded by only a thin atmosphere. Pluto is the smallest planet, but it has seven moons: Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Io, Earth’s moon Europa, and Triton. It has a diameter that is roughly eighteen percent than that of Earth. For many decades after Pluto was discovered, its mass and diameter could only be estimated. Pluto’s thin atmosphere is most likely composed of nitrogen and carbon monoxide, which is equivalent to solid nitrogen and carbon monoxide ices on the surface. The atmosphere is also similar to that of Triton, Neptune’s moon. There are seasons and winds on Triton. Pluto’s atmosphere is larger than Triton’s, so there may be clouds and storms.
- Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has traveled only a third of its way around the Sun.
- Pluto takes 248 Earth years to make one revolution around the Sun. That means one year on Pluto is about 248 Earth years.
- A day/night at Pluto lasts 6 ½ Earth days. This means Pluto takes earth 6 ½ earth days to complete one rotation.
- The smallest planet in our solar system is Pluto. In fact, now it is called a ‘dwarf planet’ and not a true planet.
- Pluto consists of rock with a very thick coating of ice.
- The Sun looks 1600 times fainter from Pluto than it does from the Earth.
- Pluto is smaller than our Earth-Moon, yet has (at least) five moons of its own.
- Pluto is the only planet in our solar system that has not been visited by a spacecraft.
- Pluto is named after the Roman god of the underworld. It was given the name by a 13-year-old English schoolgirl.
- The radius of the dwarf planet pluto is 1,883.3 Km, Which 3.3 times less than that of the Earth’s radius.
- The chemical composition of Pluto probably consists of a mixture of 70 percent rock and 30 percent water ice. Whereas the Internal structure of the dwarf planet probably has a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice, with more exotic ices such as methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen ice coating the surface.
- The temperature on Pluto can be as cold as -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-226 to -240 degrees Celsius).
- Pluto has a surface area of 1.779×107 km2 or roughly the same surface area as Russia.
- The Disney character Pluto was named after pluto planet in 1930 only.
- The distance of pluto from Earth is about 5.2475 billion km. Whereas the distance from the Sun is 39.5 Au (1 Astronocial unit= distance of Sun from Earth).
