Updated September 19th, 2020 at 15:12 IST

A closer look at Pluto surface pictures and features; check out here

Pluto's photos of its surface have got many interested in its terrain. Get all the information about Pluto surface pictures and features here.

Reported by: Sanchay Saksena
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Pluto is now considered to be a dwarf planet because of its size. The classification of the planet has undergone a number of changes over the years. International Astronomical Union’s planetary criteria do not consider Pluto as a planet as it hasn’t cleared the surroundings around its orbit and other particles. International Astronomical Union has dubbed Pluto as a Dwarf Planet since 2006.

Pluto is an interesting world -- its skies are blue, it's surrounded by spinning moons and it has quite the mountainous region too. It snows over there but the color of the snow is red. Check out Pluto surface photos and features:

Also read: Neptune Surface Pictures And Features That You Must Check Out

Also read: Mercury Photos And Surface Features: Know All Its Surface Characteristics

Pluto Surface Pictures

Here’s a closer look at Pluto surface photos and features:

Images sourced from solarsystem.nasa.gov

Pluto Surface Features

  • According to solarsystem.nasa.gov, Pluto, now a dwarf planet, is only 2,380 kilometers or 1,400 miles wide. The size of the planet is half the width of the United States, or 2/3 the width of Earth’s moon.
  • Pluto revolves in an orbit around the sun just like every planet in the solar system. The total distance between the Sun and Pluto is around 5.8 billion kilometers or 3.6 billion miles. It is about 40 times as far as the Planet earth from the sun. Pluto is housed in a region called the Kuiper Belt.
  • A Plutonian day is much longer than a standard Earth day. Pluto takes around 153 hours to rotate and complete a day, compared to the 24 hours Earth takes. A Plutonian year constitutes approximately 248 Earth years, as that’s the amount of time Pluto takes to complete one revolution around the Sun.
  • The Planet of Pluto is official classified as a Dwarf planet.
  • The atmosphere that surrounds the planet Pluto is quite thin. The atmosphere is filled with nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. The atmosphere appears with a blue tine and has visible layers of haze.
  • Pluto has a total of 5 moons. The largest moon, Charon is so big compared to Pluto that Pluto and Charon orbit each other like a double planet.
  • Pluto has no visible ring system to it.
  • The only spaceship that has had the chance to visit the planet Pluto is NASA’s New Horizons. It passed closely from the planet in July 2015.
  • Pluto is an extremely cold planet. It is too cold to sustain any type of life. The temperature on the planet varies from -378 to -396 degrees F or -228 to -238 degrees C.
  • The name Pluto was given by just an eleven-year-old in 1930 called Venetia Burney.

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Also read: NASA's Hubble Captures Crisp New Portrait Of Jupiter As Great Red Spot Plows Into Storm

Promo image source: solarsystem.nasa.gov

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Published September 19th, 2020 at 15:12 IST