Pluto

2 Pages 615 Words

My topic is the planet Pluto. I chose this planet because a lot of people don’t even consider it a planet. The earth’s moon is even bigger than Pluto. Other than that I don’t really know anything at all about the planet. I did also know that Pluto does intertwine with Neptune’s orbit.

Is Pluto really a planet? Researchers have been trying to determine whether Pluto is really big enough to be a planet. Over the last few years, the gathered information on Pluto and the discovery of an increasing number of other objects in the outer solar system have been discussed within a group of astronomers called minor-planets. The planet Pluto is not given the respect of other planets and some have the indication to change Pluto to a minor planet.
Astronomer Brian Marsden of Harvard Smithsonian Center said if Pluto were discovered seventy years ago, it would be considered a minor planet. A minor planet is a term used to describe asteroids and most astronomers agree that Pluto is no asteroid. Marsden said it’s not a demotion for Pluto to be referred to as the 10,000th minor planet, it is an honor. Some astronomers do not agree with Brian Marsden’s theory. Pluto deserves to be considered more than just a minor planet. Most astronomers would probably consider stripping Pluto of is status. That would be like stripping Connecticut or Vermont of statehood because Texas and Alaska later joined. It was estimated that Pluto contained mass of eleven Earths but dropped rapidly over time.
This is what is giving the astronomers a second opinion about being a planet. Pluto is about 1,500 miles in diameter, larger than the largest asteroid. It is known to have density of two grams per cubic centimeter, so is estimated to be sixty percent rock and forty percent ices of frozen nitrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and water. Pluto is tilted 122.5 degrees on its axis. Because of the shape of Pluto’s orbit, it actually slips inside of ...