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Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most- massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris.
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve orbital dominance like the eight classical planets of the Solar System. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto, which for decades was regarded as a planet before the "dwarf" concept ...
Eris (minor-planet designation: 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. [ 22 ] It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high- eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory –based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year.
NASA just released the most complete look at Pluto that we've ever seen by stitching together recently-released photos. NASA's Pluto map is the most detailed look at the Dwarf Planet we've ever ...
Geology of Pluto. The geology of Pluto consists of the characteristics of the surface, crust, and interior of Pluto. Because of Pluto's distance from Earth, in-depth study from Earth is difficult. Many details about Pluto remained unknown until 14 July 2015, when New Horizons flew through the Pluto system and began transmitting data back to ...
It is not clear how many KBOs are large enough to be dwarf planets. Consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many dwarf-planet candidates suggests that not many are. [113] Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake are accepted by most astronomers; some have proposed other bodies, such as Salacia, 2002 MS 4, [114] 2002 AW 197, and ...
The atmosphere of Pluto is the layer of gasses that surround the dwarf planet Pluto. It consists mainly of nitrogen (N 2), with minor amounts of methane (CH 4) and carbon monoxide (CO), all of which are vaporized from surface ices on Pluto 's surface. It contains layered haze, probably consisting of heavier compounds which form from these gases ...
This new view of Pluto's crescent stunningly highlights the dwarf planet's varied terrains, extended atmosphere and familiar Arctic look. NASA releases stunning new 'Earth-like' images of Pluto ...