What about Pluto?

This lesson goes with our studies of physical science by Apologia.

Here are a few interesting facts about Pluto.

~Pluto is named after the Ancient Roman god of the underworld in Roman mythology.  The Roman god Pluto was the son of Saturn and ruled the underworld.

~Pluto is approximately 4.6 billion years old.

~It takes Pluto around 248 earth years to orbit around the sun.

~Pluto was traditionally considered a planet (for 76 years) but now Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet (2006).

~Normally a dwarf planet does not have its own atmosphere but Pluto does.  This atmosphere is toxic to humans.

~When Pluto is orbiting and is closest to the sun, the atmosphere is gas (nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane), and when Pluto is orbiting at the farthest point from the sun, the atmosphere freezes.

~Pluto spins in the opposite direction as earth does.

Charon

~Charon (ferryman of Hades), Pluto's moon, is almost the size of Pluto itself.

~Pluto has a total of four moons which include Charon-above, as well as Hydra (nine-headed serpent who guards Hades), Nix (the Greek goddess of the night), and a moon called S/2011 which was discovered in 2011.

Nix

~If you weigh 100 pounds on earth, you would weigh a meager 6.7 pounds on Pluto.

~Pluto is so far away, you could never see it from earth.

~The element plutonium discovered in 1941 is named after Pluto.

~Pluto rotates on its side so it has extreme seasonal variations.


~The sun only rises and sets once a week (earth week) on Pluto.

Pretty cool stuff!

Read more at Space Facts.
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