PLUTO PLANET

s Pluto a planet anymore?

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has defined a planet as a celestial body that is in orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Therefore officially, Pluto qualifies only as a dwarf planet of the solar system.

Pluto

Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona on February 18, 1930. Pluto has a highly eccentric orbit. Its average distance from the Sun is about 5.90638 x 109 km (39.482 A.U.) which is approximately 40 times that of Earth’s distance from the Sun.

Pluto's astronomical symbol is a combination of the two letters, "P-L".

Once considered as the smallest planet in the Solar System, Pluto is also smaller and less massive than seven moons namely Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Io, Earth's Moon, Europa and Triton.

Pluto completes one full revolution around the Sun in 248 Earth years. Pluto's most recent close approach to the Sun was in 1989. Between 1979 and 1999, Pluto's highly elliptical orbit brought it closer to the Sun than Neptune, providing rare opportunities to study Charon (the only moon ofPluto).