Pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet that occupies an area called the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. It is tilted 122.5 degrees on its axis and has an extreme elliptical orbit. Because of the shape of Pluto's orbit, it actually slips inside of Neptune's orbit once every 248 Earth years for a period of twenty years. Pluto has three natural satellites, Charon, Hydra, and Nix. Hydra and Nix were only very recently discovered. Studies conducted using a spectroscope have detected methane frost on Pluto and water frost on Charon. Like Triton, Neptune's satellite, Pluto has an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Pluto's atmosphere appears to extend out to include Charon, which suggests that they may share an atmosphere. Through the Hubble Space Telescope, Charon appears to be more blue in color than Pluto. During the time in its orbit when Pluto is farthest from the Sun, its atmosphere condenses and falls to the surface as frost.




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Created by [Jivo]