What about Pluto?
Once known as the smallest, coldest, and most distant planet from the Sun, Pluto has a two identities. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded Pluto from an official planet to a dwarf planet. According to the new rules a planet meets three criteria: it must orbit the Sun, it must be big enough for gravity to squash it into a round ball, and it must have cleared other things out of the way in its orbital neighborhood. Pluto orbits among icy wrecks in the Kuiper Belt, not around the sun. This is why Pluto is no longer a planet and is now called a dwarf planet.NASA's New Horizons will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft has to travel nine and a half years before it'll reach Pluto! This journey began in January 2006. The spacecraft will reach Pluto in 2015!!!
FUN FACTS ABOUT PLUTO
2,700,000,000 Miles - Closest Pluto gets to the sun.
248 - Years it takes Pluto to travel around the sun. A Plutonian year.
4,600,000,000 Miles - Farthest Pluto gets from the sun.
24 - Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh's age when he discovered Pluto in 1930.
-356°F - Estimated average temperature on Pluto. About -215 °C..
-128°F - Coldest spot on Earth.
6.4 - Number of Earth days you'd need to stay up to equal one day on Pluto.
3 - Known moons orbiting Pluto.
2,700,000,000 Miles - Closest Pluto gets to the sun.
248 - Years it takes Pluto to travel around the sun. A Plutonian year.
4,600,000,000 Miles - Farthest Pluto gets from the sun.
24 - Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh's age when he discovered Pluto in 1930.
-356°F - Estimated average temperature on Pluto. About -215 °C..
-128°F - Coldest spot on Earth.
6.4 - Number of Earth days you'd need to stay up to equal one day on Pluto.
3 - Known moons orbiting Pluto.
Fun, fun, fun! I'm loving your guy's blog. All of this information is good to know and put into an interesting way of learning. I'll probably always regard Pluto as still a planet, because that's what I learned to begin with! But this is really neat to look at. You've all really made this blog captivating and kids would love it! Nicely done!
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