PLUTO THE SMALLEST PLANET

BASIC FACTS

Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun. Like Neptune, it cannot be seen with naked eyes. It was also discovered first by mathematics and then located through the telescope in 1930 A.D.

Pluto has an oval-most orbit in the entire solar system. It has a diameter measuring 2285 kilometers. It completes its one revolution about the sun in 248 years. When it comes nearest the sun, it crosses inside the orbit of Neptune and remains there for 20 years. Recently it did so on January 23, 1979 A.D. and remained there till March 15, 1999. On September 12,1979, it was nearest the sun.

As for rotation, Pluto completes its one rotation in 6 earth-days and 9 hours. Astronomers do not know much about its surface conditions and its exact size because it is very, very far away from the earth. Pluto's surface is the coldest place in our solar system with temperatures ranging between -208°C and -323°C.

SPECIAL FEATURES

It is believed that Pluto is mainly icy and therefore has no life on it. In 1905, an American astronomer, named Percival Lowell, found that the gravity of some unknown heavenly body was affecting the orbital motions of Uranus and Neptune. In 1915, he predicted the presence of a new planet beyond Neptune. He died in 1916 but his assistant C.W. Taunbaugh carried on the search and in 1930 located a new planet. It was named after the Roman god of the Dead - Pluto.

IN MYTHOLOGY

As no spacecraft has visited Pluto so far, very little is indeed known about this planet.

The Romans had come in contact with Greek culture during 100's B.C. They borrowed and preserved without any change all the myths about Hades - god of Under-World Kingdom. But they gave it the new name Pluto which comes from the Greek word - Plouton.

In 1978, astronomers detected a moon moving around Pluto and named it Charon. It is nearly as big as Pluto itself. It has been named after the boatman who took the souls of the dead across River Styx to the underworld.