Pluto: The Frozen Planet
Explanation:
The Hubble Space Telescope
imaged
Pluto and its moon Charon in 1994.
Pluto is usually the most distant planet from the
Sun but because of its elliptic
orbit Pluto crossed inside of
Neptune's orbit in 1979 and will cross back
out again in 1999. Compared to the other planets, very little is known
about Pluto.
Pluto is smaller than any other planet and even smaller than
several other planet's moons. From Pluto, the Sun is just a tiny point of
light.
Pluto is probably composed of frozen rock and ice, much like
Neptune's moon
Triton. Pluto has not yet been visited
by a spacecraft, but a
mission is being planned
for the next decade.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris.
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rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.