PLUTO
Pluto Facts:
- Pluto is the outermost planet in the solar system. It is the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft.
- Pluto has a very small mass: about 0.00021 Earth mass.
- Pluto has an icy surface which is 98% nitrogen. There are also traces of methane and traces of carbon monoxide on Pluto's surface.
- The makeup of Pluto is neither jovian nor terrestrial. It is somewhat similar to the ice moons of the outer planet. This led to Pluto being reclassified as a “dwarf planet” in 2006.
- Pluto’s orbital period is exactly 1.5 times that of Neptune’s.
- Pluto’s orbital path is eccentric. At perihelion, the planet lies inside the orbit of Neptune. At aphelion, Pluto is well outside the orbit of Neptune
- Pluto has a rotation period of 6.387 days.
- Pluto has a single moon, Charon. Charon and Pluto travel in a synchronous orbit. They are trapped in each other's gravitational fields.
