The Pages of The Gray Wizard

Pluto

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Pluto

 

Pluto, too small and far away to be seen except through the largest of telescopes.

 
The smallest planet in our solar system and also the farthest away from us, remains basically a mystery. We know very little about Pluto. We do know that on its surface there is methane ice or snow, and it has an atmosphere of methane gas. No detail of its surface is visible from Earth but the Hubble telescope revealed dark and light regions. It has one moon named Charon. Pluto is less than one-fifth the size of Earth, even smaller than our Moon.
 
pluto.jpg (19977 bytes)

"Image courtesy Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Copyright (c) California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. All rights reserved."

[click on thumbnail for larger image]

Pluto Facts

Distance from Earth

39.5 Au

Apparent Magnitude

13.7

Mass

0.002 x Earth's mass
1.29 x 1022 kg

Pluto Day

6.39 Earth days

Radius

0.18 x Earth's radius
2300 km diameter

Pluto Year

247.7 Earth years

Apparent Size

0.08 arcsecs    
Pluto's Moon
Charon
charon.jpg (25863 bytes)

"Image courtesy Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Copyright (c) California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. All rights reserved."

[click on thumbnail for larger image]