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The Mysterious One
O what can ail thee, Knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
-- John Keats
La Belle Dame sans Merci |
Named for the Roman God of the Underworld, Pluto is the furthest planet from the Sun within our solar system known to Man. Its immoderate orbital eccentricity causes Pluto’s orbit to cut into Neptune’s! At such times, Pluto becomes the eighth planet from the Sun and Neptune the ninth. Very little is known of this planet or its history. Two major theories of its origins exist, but as no man-made spacecraft has visited the planet, much is shrouded in mystery. The majority of our information is speculative and relies upon our limited knowledge of physics in the universe.
At a distance of more than 4.29 x 109 km at any given time, our most powerful pictures are all but very sharp and mostly come from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
Quick Facts
Planetary Order from the SunNinth (Sometimes Eighth)
Average Distance from the Sun5.90 x 109 km
SizeMass: 1.27 x 1022 kg
Diameter: 2,274 km
Density: 2,050 kg/m3
Rotation and OrbitRotation about Axis: 6.4 Days (1.5 x 102 Hours)
Period of Revolution about Sun: 248 Years* (9.06 x 104 Days)
Orbital Inclination: 17.2o
Orbital Eccentricity: 0.25
* The approximation of 365.256 days per year is used.
Mean Temperature- 223oC to -233oC
One Satellites (Moon)Charon
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