5 mysteries about Pluto

Pluto is so far away from the earth that things people know about it only count on the fingertips.

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However, in the next few years things will be clearer when NASA's New Horizon spacecraft arrived at this object in July 2015 as expected. So far, there are 5 extremely mysterious things about Pluto, which was counted as the 9th planet of the solar system before being dropped by the International Astronomical League to dwarf planet in 2006.

Confused about size

When discovered in 1930, Pluto was originally thought to be larger than Mercury and could surpass the world. Now astronomers know it is only about 2,352 km across, 20% smaller than the Earth, while its mass is only 0.2% of our planet.

Disordered orbit

Pluto has an unusual flat elliptical trajectory , unlike the 8 planets in the solar system. On average, dwarf planets will take 248 years to complete the orbit of 5.87 billion km around the central star. Unusual orbits mean that within a few years, the orbit of Pluto will cut Neptune. This makes Pluto near the Earth compared to Neptune, the 8th planet from the sun. But don't worry, these two planets will never bump into each other, either orbit or duplication.

Temperature of long-term sound

Because it is too far from the sun, Pluto is one of the coldest places in the solar system, with its surface temperature always kept at -225 degrees Celsius. Its surface is covered regularly by nitrogen ice. When viewed at close enough distances, the surface of the dwarf planet can turn into ice mountains full of cold air, the underground may also be presenting a giant ocean.

Satellites

Pluto has 4 moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra and a recently discovered tiny satellite named P4 . While While Nix, Hydra, P4 are quite small, Charon is about half the size of Pluto. Also due to the impressive size of Charon, some astronomers believe that Pluto and Charon are a dwarf planet, or binary system. This is a word for two celestial bodies that are locked together by gravity. Charon always turned one side of the surface to Pluto, and Pluto always turned to face Charon. It could be imagined that if a person stood on the near surface of Pluto, Charon would float in the sky without moving; If this person goes to the other side, he will not be able to see Charon.

Transparent atmosphere

Although smaller than the Earth's moon, this bizarre dwarf planet also manages to hold a fragile atmosphere, composed primarily of nitrogen, methane and CO, about 3,000 km thick.