Pluto, the Dwarf Planet that Could Quiz

Answer: 1930

Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18, 1930. It was discovered using the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tombaugh observed an object was having a gravitational influence on Uranus and Neptune. He found Pluto by comparing images he had taken of the night sky. A small faint dot was observed to be in a different location in later images.

Answer: Charon

Charon is the largest moon of Pluto. It was discovered on June 22, 1978. It is a large moon almost half the size of Pluto itself. It is so large relative to its parent planet that it does not orbit Pluto; rather both Pluto and Charon orbit around a common center of gravity.

Answer: Nix and Hydra

Nix and Hydra are two small moons of Pluto. They were both discovered on June 15, 2005 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Two additional moons were later discovered (Kerberos in 2011 and Styx in 2012).

Answer: True

Pluto's orbit is inclined and not on the same plane as the eight major planets of the solar system. Its path takes it within the orbit of Neptune, which is where Pluto was from 1979 through 1999. One full orbit on Pluto takes 248 years to complete.

Answer: It was no longer considered to be a planet

Pluto was long considered to be the ninth planet. However, since its discovery, there have been a number of objects discovered beyond Pluto of similar size and composition. This has led scientists to debate whether Pluto was actually a planet or not. On August 24, 2006 the IAU (International Astronomical Union) officially downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet.

Answer: New Horizons

The New Horizons spacecraft was launched in January, 2006. It used gravity assists from the Sun and the planet Jupiter to set it on a course for Pluto. New Horizons finally arrived at Pluto in July, 2015. It has since passed Pluto and is scheduled to fly by an object further out in the Kuiper Belt.

Answer: Heart

When New Horizons sent its photographs back to Earth, the world was able to view the surface of Pluto for the first time since it was discovered. Most of the surface is a reddish brown color, while the Tombaugh Regio area of the surface is a lighter shade of brown and appears to look like a giant heart.

Answer: Yes

Despite its small size, Pluto does in fact have an atmosphere. The atmosphere of Pluto consists of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. When Pluto was photographed in front of the Sun, the atmosphere was shown to be bluish in color.

Answer: Ceres

The Jovian moon Europa, the planet Mercury and even our own Moon are all larger in size than the dwarf planet Pluto. Ceres is a dwarf planet that lies within the Asteroid Belt and is smaller than Pluto. Pluto's demotion to a dwarf planet was a promotion for Ceres which was previously classified as an asteroid.

Answer: False

Pluto was named for the Roman god of the underworld. Pluto, the cartoon dog created by Walt Disney, debuted one month after the dwarf planet had already been discovered. In fact, Pluto the dog may have been named after the dwarf planet, not the other way around.