Pluto is a very excellent place to visit, for those who are adventurous, curious, and hungry for discovery. Very little is known about the tiny planet that is so far from Earth and Sun. Scientists of Earth have more questions than they do have answers. Some are not even totally certain Pluto is a planet!

Pluto is described as frozen, cold and dark. These are very strong descriptions that sound like the Underworld, which was the place of death for Romans. The god of the Underworld was named Pluto. Up-close Pluto is yellowish-brown. Pluto is definitely the smallest "planet" of our solar system. It is two-thirds the size of Earth's moon. Pluto has the diameter of only 1,430 miles, which is smaller than any other planet by greater than a factor of two. Pluto has a rotating time of 6 days and 9 hours, and it takes 248 Earth years to orbit. It is presumed to be composed of rock and ice, like most outer planet satellites and asteroids. Pluto tilts 17.1 degrees from the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the normal plane of orbit that most planets have, including Earth. Pluto has a very thin atmosphere that consists of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane. Most of the time, Pluto is the ninth planet from the sun, the farthest from the sun in our solar system. This occurs for 228 years. After 228 years, during a twenty-year period, Pluto switches places with Neptune. With this strange occurrence, you might fear for a collision between Pluto and Neptune; but even in their closest position with each other, they are more than 1 billion miles apart from each other. Usually one is higher or lower than the other is, because of their very different orbits. Nevertheless, Pluto probably has collided with something before. With the discovery of Pluto in 1978, its moon was discovered. It's composition and atmosphere causes others to hypothesize that it is just a chunk of Pluto that separated from it after a collision. This moon is called Charon. It is a satellite that is larger in proportion to other satellites and the planets they orbit around in the entire solar system.

Why do people question its status as a planet or not? Pluto is the only outer planet that is small and solid like an asteroid or its own big moon. This completely contrasts with the outer solar system ideal, because the other outer planets are mostly gas and the largest of all the solar system. Pluto is entirely too small in comparison to other planets, and some satellites that circle Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Pluto is believed to have wandered in from outside of our solar system. Pluto's wild and strange orbit creates questioning of its label. Pluto has been labeled a planet and a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO). Forget about UFOs. Instead, keep your eyes peeled for TNOs, on our adventurous quest.