Many of you have been asking questions about Pluto and many of you have commented in a previous post about Pluto and its planet status. Here are some of the answers to your questions.
Megan Con asked if Pluto has ice on it as it is the coldest planet?
Pluto is made up of rocks and different kinds of ice. Most of the ices that make up pluto are frozen methane and ammonia, so a lot different from the ice in your freezer! The surface of Pluto is very dark and extremely cold. Since the planet is so far away from the Sun, it gets almost no light or heat. The temperature on the surface is less than -200 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, almost everything freezes solid.
Is Pluto just a rock?
Pluto is now called a dwarf planet. It is made up of different kinds of ice and is thought to have a rocky core. The ice is mostly frozen nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. There are lots of other balls of icey rock in space but they are a bit different to usual rocks so we call them dwarf planets.
Why does Pluto orbit the Sun differently from other planets?
Pluto is further out than all the planets from the sun. It takes 248 years to go all the way round the sun once. Pluto has an odd orbit because it is not one of the original planets in the solar system. It was 'caught' by the Sun's gravity some time later. It has an elliptical (oval shaped) orbit, so sometimes it is closer to the sun and other times it is further away. It is also at an odd angle to the Sun's equator. This tells us it was caught by the Sun and might have been an asteroid for some time.
How long does it take to get to Pluto?
If you could travel at about 100,000km per hour (this is extremely fast fast, about 100 times faster than a jet), it would take you 6.8 years to get to Pluto.
Is Pluto still a planet?
As of August 2006, Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Since larger bodies were found within our solar system, decisions had to be made as to whether to include these as planets or not. To sort out the issue, members of the International Atstronomical Union gathered for a vote. They decided to redefine exactly what a planet is. Their definition states that a planet must:
1) Orbit the sun
2) Be roughly spherical; only larger planets will have enough gravitational pull to meet this criteria
3) Have cleared its path free of smaller objects as it orbits the sun
Since Pluto cannot meet the final point, it had to be demoted to the title of 'Dwarf Planet'.