Rapid Fire
Cosmic Story of Pluto and Charon
- 22 Jan 2025
- 2 min read
A recent study suggests that Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, was formed after a violent collision between Pluto and another celestial body. This was followed by a “kiss-and-capture” event, where the two began orbiting each other.
- Unusual Orbit: Unlike Earth, whose moon orbits the planet, Pluto and Charon are considered a "binary system" where they orbit around a common center of mass, essentially orbiting each other, within the Kuiper Belt making their relationship unique in the solar system.
- The Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune's orbit, is a cold region housing icy objects, similar to the asteroid belt but farther from the Sun.
- Pluto’s Planetary Status: Pluto, once the ninth planet, was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.
- NASA’s New Horizons mission revealed surprising features on Pluto, such as ice mountains, nitrogen glaciers, and a heart-shaped region called Tombaugh Regio, changing its image from a barren rock to a dynamic, complex world.
- Moons of Pluto: Charon (largest in size), Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx.
Pluto:
- Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930.
- Diameter: 1,400 miles, smaller than Earth's Moon.
- A year on Pluto lasts 248 Earth years; a day lasts 153 hours (about 6 Earth days).
- The atmosphere consists of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, with a blue tint and haze layers.
- Surface temperature ranges from -228°C to -238°C, too cold to support life.
Read More: Spherical Shape of Planets
