FUN FACTS ABOUT PLUTO.

Pluto is at present the only planetary conglobation in the solar system named for a cartoon dog, although there have been petitions circulated asking the IAU to rename Eris after Spike from the Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Pluto’s argument of perihelion librates around 90º. Bet you didn’t know that.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by an astronomer looking for the “Planet X” that Percival Lowell had predicted; but in fact the discovery was a mere coincidence, as Pluto did not have the attributes expected of the predicted Planet X. Planet X was not discovered until 1953, when an earth duck landed and claimed it.

If Pluto were moved to the same orbit as Mars, astronomers would be very surprised.

The Plutonian year is equal to 248 Earth years; and because Pluto’s axis is tilted 120º, its seasonal variation is extreme. Winter on Pluto is mind-bogglingly cold, whereas summer is only unimaginably cold.

Astronomers estimate that the Plutonian Christmas shopping season lasts for 496 Earth months.

The eagerly awaited photographs from the New Horizons space probe revealed an object on Pluto’s surface that astonished astronomers could only describe as a “polygonal feature.”

Pluto has four known moons. Um, five known moons. Six. Pluto has seven kno——— Pluto has an unknown number of moons.

Comments

  1. Sigivald says:

    And a good thing Planet X was finally discovered, too.

    Otherwise we’d have run out of shaving cream decades ago, and then where would we be?

    I’ll tell you – scruffy, at best. At worst, raggedly hirsute in the manner of a hippie.

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