Our solar system consists of Eight planets one Sun which was created 4.5 billion years ago In which four are gas giants and four are rocky planets. A few years ago Pluto was also considered as the 9th planet in solar system which is the smallest and last planet of the solar system but in the year 2016 International Astronomical Union (IAU) in their 26 journal assembly they have considered Pluto as a dwarf planet but some people still ask why Pluto is not considered as a planet ? what happened to it? In this article, we are going to discuss all about Pluto.
Pluto(Credit-space)
In the year 1977, the Voyager spacecraft was launched by NASA. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were the first spacecraft that helped humans to see the gas giants Planets of our Solar System. Voyager spacecraft are still traveling in space but their cameras are off now due to which scientists are unable to see Pluto properly.
Voyager
In the year 1930, American scientist Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto after this discovery Pluto was considered as 9th Planet of our Solar System at that time scientists thought that Pluto is greater than Mercury in size but Pluto was very different from the other 8 planets of our solar system. It is the big giant of ice and its temperature is -225°C and the orbit of Pluto is also very different. The other 8 Planets orbit Sun in circular orbits but the orbit of Pluto is extremely elliptical it orbits Sun with an angle of 17° and takes 248 years to complete one orbit. You can think how long 1 year is on Pluto as compared to Earth. But before the discovery of Pluto scientists has already taken its pictures but they don’t focus on them that much at that time.
Urbain Le Verrier(Credit-wikipedia)
In the year 1840, French Mathematician Urbain Le Verrier has done the prediction of Neptune with the help of his mathematical calculations. He has noticed that something is affecting the orbit of Uranus after noticing it he has discovered Neptune after the discovery of Neptune scientists observed that some other is also affecting the orbit of Uranus. In 1906, American Mathematician Percival Lowell has started one project “The Search Of Possible Ninth Planets” and he gave the name of the planet “Planet X”. In 1915, Percival has captured two blurred images of Pluto but he didn’t know that it is the 9th Planet. After this due to some government issue, this program was closed. But in the year 1929, this project was started again and the duty to find Planet X was given to a new scientist. After 1 year on 18 Feb 1930, Tomboug discovered Pluto. After this discovery, Pluto becomes famous in people and become a new member of the solar system known as the 9th planet but the calculation of Pluto's mass in size are proved wrong scientist was thinking that the mass of Pluto is equal to the mass of Earth and after many studies, sc Aloientist found that the mass of Pluto is very less than they assumed..jpeg)
Pluto's moon ‘Charon’ (Credit-nasa
In the year 1988, Pluto's moon ‘Charon’ was discovered after this scientists are able to calculate the actual mass of Pluto and come to know that the mass of Pluto is 0.2% and its size is very small as compared to Earth. It is very small even It's gravity is not able to affect the orbit of Uranus that's why Pluto was removed from ‘Project X’ but Pluto was still one planet and at that time also scientists do not have clear images of Pluto scientists have started the studies of the size and mass of Pluto but for the actual size and structure of Pluto scientist have to travel 5.9 billion km from Earth to see it surface properly but it is almost impossible to go to Pluto at that time to make this possible we need proper angle time and speed if one of them is not properly calculated we will not able to achieve our destination.
New Horizon(Credit-wikipedia)
On 19 June 2006, NASA launch its New Horizon spacecraft which is the first spacecraft to study Pluto after 9 years and 5 months in 2015 New Horizon will be going to see Pluto from near and properly New Horizon manufacture very differently. To travel faster New Horizon takes the help of Jupiter's gravity which increases its speed by 20% on 25 June 2015 New Horizon finally reached its destination Pluto but Pluto was not the last destination of the New Horizon. The new destination of the New Horizon is to reach to Kepler belt that's why scientist does not have enough time to study Pluto but in this time only New Horizon give much information About Pluto which helps the scientist to know more about people did you know in New Horizon spacecraft first spacecraft to go to Pluto in this spacecraft scientist have sent the remains and ash of the founder of Pluto which is the very respectful moment to him that they make it possible.
In 2005, a New dwarf Eris has Discovered and it is more away from Pluto and 27% more than Pluto which forces scientists to make a new definition of planets. In the journal assembly of 2006, they passed new rules to call any dwarf a planet which is:-
- It should Orbit around the sun.
- It should have sufficient mass to as your hydrostatic equilibrium( a nearly round shape)
And these two rules are followed by Pluto but Third One which Pluto does not follow is;-
- It should clear the neighborhood around its Orbit
And said dwarf planets but Pluto is not only one dwarf planet in our solar system there are 4 more dwarf planets in our solar system which orbit our Sun.
In 2006, Pluto was considered a planet we are able to see it in 2015 properly but the journey of New Horizon is still not ended at this time it is traveling in deep space this is all about Pluto and scientists' journey. If you like this article share it with your friend I hope you will get to know very much about Pluto from this Article.
By- Hritik Raj