Pluto

The prototype “dwarf planet,” Pluto orbits the Sun at an average distance of 39.5 times the distance between Earth and Sun. Pluto has a mass 0.002 times the mass of Earth and a radius 0.18 times the radius of Earth. It is a small body made of water ice, and temperatures there do not rise above minus-223 degrees Centigrade. Pluto has five known moons. Discovered in 1930, it originally was classified as a planet, but was demoted in 2006.

Vanishing Air

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Vanishing Air

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Pluto’s air gets ready to “hibernate”

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Pluto at Opposition

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Pluto at Opposition

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A little world gets pushed around

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Deep Ocean

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Deep Ocean

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A deep and ancient ocean on Pluto

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Building a World

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Building a World

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Assembling a small planet

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Beyond Neptune

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Beyond Neptune

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Denizens of the deep solar system

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Changing Skies?

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Changing Skies?

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Pluto may be losing its atmosphere

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Getting Moons

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Getting Moons

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Many ways to acquire moons

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Pluto

Because it is so far from the Sun, astronomers had a hard time measuring Pluto’s size. They finally got it

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Planet Tours

Planning to take a vacation soon? Visit Phobos! Small and cozy, Phobos orbits the fourth planet from the Sun in

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Remnants from the Beginning

Yet many remained, and are still with us today: a small planet (and maybe more than one), icy planetesimals that

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