Pluto it is a dwarf planet that orbits our solar system. It is located in a region of this system called the Kuiper Belt, in an area very far from the sun and, therefore, has a very low influence of this star. Its discovery took place in the year 1930 by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, and its name was chosen by an 11-year-old girl in reference to the Roman god of the underworld.
Until 2006, the International Astronomical Union considered Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system and, despite being very close to the so-called gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) was the smallest of the planets in our system. However, after the discovery of the dwarf planet Eris and the perspective (now considered false) that this was bigger than Pluto, one began to question whether Pluto could really be classified as planet.
Thus, after a convention held in that year, the necessary criteria were established and reassessed to define what is planet or not, so Pluto did not attend to one of them, namely: having an orbit that is not directly influenced by others planets. so he
has been "downgraded" to dwarf planet rating.General information also indicates that Pluto has a year of 248 Earth years, due to the longer time it takes to make a complete circle around the sun. Its rotation speed is also slower, with days 6.5 times larger than ours, although the planet is much smaller.
However, as very little was known about the celestial body in question – due to its great distance from the Earth – NASA (North American Space Agency) sent the probe New Horizons, which achieved a good approximation in the month of July 2015 and, thus, was able to make sharper images. In addition, images and videos were taken involving the surface and the local atmosphere, so that a lot of information (some surprising) was revealed.
The first of the discoveries of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft was made long before it got anywhere near the dwarf planet: the existence of more moons than previously thought. When the probe left Earth in 2005, three were thought to exist: Charon (the largest of them), Nix and Hydra. However, as we got closer, two others were seen: Estige (in 2011) and Cerbero (in 2012).
Another important piece of information about Pluto's characteristics was the update of its size, which is a bit greater than estimated, which is due to the distortions caused when obtaining images at a greater distance. Thus, its exact diameter is 2370 km, placing it in the lead in terms of size among the dwarf planets, with 30 km more in relation to Eris, the second place.
With the images obtained by New Horizons, it was also verified that Pluto has a very rugged relief, marked by the presence of a large number of mountain ranges. Contrary to popular belief, there are few cratered formations on its surface, which indicates a geologically young age. The surface has likely been heavily shaped by volcanic eruptions and other natural events over the past 100 million years.
Pluto has an atmosphere made up of methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen and other materials, in addition to having a large amount of ice on its surface. At low local temperatures (around -248ºC), this ice has the same natural behavior as a rock here on Earth, being the structuring base of the mountains described above.
Over the next few years, exciting new information about the most popular dwarf planet among beings Humans will be revealed by NASA, which occurs as the spacecraft sends more of the massive amount of information stored. With this, it will be possible to obtain more definitive conclusions about the local atmosphere, geological activity and other characteristics of Pluto and its moons.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/plutao-rebaixado.htm
