The Sideways dwarf planet | The Pluto

                The Pluto is the largest kuiper belt object. When the Pluto was discovered in 1930, the Pluto is declared as a ninth planet from our sun. But in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines the definition about the planate. And so, the Pluto is reclassified as a dwarf planet. So now the Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun. So, the temperature on the Pluto is -375^o to -400^o Fahrenheit or -226^oC to -240^oC. The Pluto named after the roman god of underworld. The Pluto’s rotation axis is tilted about 120⁰. So, as like the Uranus, the Pluto also rotates on its sides.

The Dwarf Planet Pluto

                The Pluto is ninth largest known object which is directly orbiting the sun. Pluto’s orbit is moderately inclined relative to the solar system’s plane over 17⁰. Even the Pluto is a dwarf planet, it has five moons orbiting around. The one of moon of Pluto, charon is hydrostatic equilibrium with Pluto. This means that the moon charon and Pluto both faces same side always.

Largest Kuiper belt object: Pluto

                The diameter of the Pluto is only about 1400. The distance between the Pluto and our sun is about 3.6 billion miles. The Pluto and Planet Neptune’s orbit crosses with each orbit. But their orbits are aligned so that they can never collide or even approach closely.

What is Pluto?

            The dwarf planet Pluto’s core is probably made up of a rocky material. According to scientist, the core may be combination of iron and rocky material. The core is surrounded by mantle. The mantle of Pluto is made up of ice. The ices are of Nitrogen, Methane and Carbon Monoxide. The Nitrogen ice is 98% of all ices and little traces of Methane and Carbon Monoxide. The Pluto is made up of 30% of ice and 70% of rocky and iron material.

                The scientist may think according their studies about the Pluto, there must be a decay of some material taking place inside. So, this decay increases the temperature around it. So, this causes the ice to melt down. So, there must be possibilities of water ocean inside the Pluto and beneath the surface of Pluto.

Inner Composition of the Pluto

                The surface of Pluto is somewhat bigger than the Russia and half as wide as the united states of America. The size of Pluto is very small as compared with largest moon of Jupiter, moon Ganymede. The colour of the Pluto varies from black charcoal, dark orange and white. The surface of Pluto is little bit same as the moon IO. The Pluto has an area known as ‘Tombaugh Region’. This region is like Heart shape. A large bright area on the opposite its moon charon. The western lobe of ‘Heart’, is a nearly 1000 km or 620 miles wide basin of frozen nitrogen and carbon monoxide ices.                The Pluto has very thin atmosphere. Atmosphere consist of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. The atmosphere Pluto is very similar to that of the comet. If we place Pluto in inner solar system, the Pluto’s atmosphere will evaporating and will produce a tale as like a comet has the atmosphere expands when Pluto comes closest to the sun and collapse when it moves further away. When Pluto comes closest to the sun the ice evaporates and converted to gaseous form. This is a thin atmosphere generation of Pluto.

Orbit of Pluto

                The Pluto requires 153 hours to complete one rotation about its axis of rotation. That means one day on Pluto lasts about 153 hours, Pluto’s axis of rotation is tilted about 120⁰. That means Pluto rotates on its sides as like the planet Uranus. The orbit of Pluto is unusual. The orbit is elliptical and tilted about 17⁰. The average orbital speed of the Pluto is nearly 4.7 km per seconds. The aphelion of Pluto is 7.38 billion km and the perihelion of Pluto is 4.44 billion km.

Orbit of the Pluto

                The orbit of Pluto is appearing that it crosses the Neptune’s orbit. But both the Pluto’s and Neptune’s orbits are aligned so that they can never collide or even approach closely. The orbits are not intersecting. When Pluto comes closer to the sun that means it comes closest to the orbit of the Neptune, the Pluto’s orbit passes about 8 AV. This preventing the collision of Pluto and the Neptune.

                The scientist isn’t known whether the Pluto has a magnetic field. But the very small size of Pluto and slow rotation suggests that the Pluto may have a little magnetic field or may be not.

Moons of the Pluto

                The dwarf planet Pluto has five moons orbiting around it. The five moons are Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. According to the studies about the dwarf planet Pluto’s moons, it suggests that the moons are formed by the collision between the Pluto and another one Kuiper belt object. Here I explained few moons of the dwarf planet Pluto.

Moons of the Pluto

Charon moon of the Pluto

                The Charon moon is the largest moon of the Pluto’s five moons. And the first from the Pluto. The Charon is half the size of the Pluto. The Pluto-Charon is the only known double planetary system in our solar system. The Charon requires approximately 6.4 Earth days to complete one orbit around the Pluto. The distance between Charon and the Pluto is approximately 19,640 km or 12,200 miles. The Charon is named after the mythological ferryman who carried souls across the river Acheron, one of the five mythical river that surrounded Pluto’s underworld.

Largest moon of the Pluto

                The Pluto and Charon always faces same sides to each other. The phenomenon of the Pluto and Charon relationship is known as “Mutual tidal locking”. Due to this Mutual tidal locking, the Charon neither rises nor sets when looking from the Pluto. The Charon always at the same position in the Pluto’s sky. The Pluto and the Charon are orbiting their barycenter.

Nix moon of the Pluto

                The Nix is the third moon from the Pluto, after Charon and Styx. The Nix moon is formed from debris ejected from a massive collision between the Pluto and another Kuiper belt object. The Nix is not perfectly sphere. The diameter of Nix is approximately 50 km or 31 miles across its longest dimension. The name of the Nix moon is named after the Nyx, the Greek goddess of the Night and darkness.

The Nix moon of the Pluto

The Nix orbits the Pluto at a distance of 48,700 km or 30,260 miles. The Nix is orbiting Pluto and it is in between Styx and Kerbero moons. Nix orbits around Pluto is very circular and orbital inclination is very low. The Nix moon requires approximately 25 Earth days to complete one rotation around the Pluto. And Nix moon requires one full day and ¾ of the day to rotate around its rotational axis.

The Nix has reflective surface, this suggests that the Nix surface may have a water ice. But Nix also appears to vary in brightness and reflectivity. Now talk about rotation, Nix is not tidally locked with the Pluto and tumbles chaotically. The rotational axial tilt and rotational period vary greatly over short timescale. The varying gravitational influences of the Pluto and Charon causes the chaotic tumbling of the Nix. Because of this Chaotic tumbling, the Nix can occasionally flip its entire rotational axis.