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Questions tagged [pluto]

Questions regarding the former 9th (now dwarf) planet Pluto.

35 votes
3 answers
6k views

Can Pluto be seen with the naked eye from Neptune when Pluto and Neptune are closest?

When Neptune and Pluto are closest, about 100 million mi (160 million km) from each other, would an observer on Neptune (or rather on one of its moons, since Neptune is gaseous) be able to see Pluto, ...
Plutos Loyer's user avatar
33 votes
2 answers
15k views

Did I see Pluto with my naked eye?

Early this morning going out on the balcony, I looked up on a star chart app to verify it was Jupiter I was seeing. Then I noticed the alignment of Mars, Saturn, and Pluto on the app. Never being able ...
Jason P Sallinger's user avatar
30 votes
3 answers
6k views

Pluto's orbit overlaps Neptune's, does this mean Pluto will hit Neptune sometime?

We know that the orbits of Pluto and Neptune overlap. This means that pluto sometimes crosses the orbit of Neptune; will Pluto hit Neptune in any circumstance?
ReNiSh AR's user avatar
  • 712
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

How did New Horizons take such well-lit pictures of Pluto?

The photos of Pluto from New Horizons are truly beautiful. But considering that Pluto is so far away from its nearest start - our Sun - how is it so well lit up? Did the New Horizons have a massive ...
CodyBugstein's user avatar
16 votes
10 answers
3k views

Is Pluto still a dwarf planet?

Recent news seem to suggest that astronomers are arguing about whether Pluto should become a planet again. However, I cannot find an official source for this. Is this actually true?
user2539's user avatar
  • 185
15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Do Pluto and Charon have unusual Lagrange points?

The usual examples of Lagrange points one most commonly encounters, Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points, are examples of 3-body problems where $M_1\gg M_2\gg M_3$. The Pluto-Charon system, ...
Jerard Puckett's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
7k views

What if Earth and Moon revolved around each other like Pluto and Charon?

What would be different for us if Earth and Moon revolved around each other like Pluto and Charon do?
cd1's user avatar
  • 249
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

Why is there a black stripe in the Hubble images of Pluto?

While reading reports about the New Horizons misson, I noticed an odd vertical, black stripe in the images of Pluto. Here is an example: Source: Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto (07.11....
Aaron Digulla's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
4k views

How bright is it on Pluto in the middle of the day? [duplicate]

I just saw a documentary about New Horizons and Pluto with plenty of photos New Horizon had taken of Pluto. All these photos were very bright, like Earth would be during the day. Considering the ...
d-b's user avatar
  • 349
11 votes
2 answers
4k views

why does pluto have a high orbital inclination

Pluto has a high orbital inclination compared to the planets in our solar system. What has caused Pluto to have such a different orbit -- was it always like this, or did something happen to make it ...
Tara's user avatar
  • 111
10 votes
1 answer
321 views

Pluto- Current theories regarding its geological nature?

The images of New Horizons from Pluto will take more a year to arrive from space, for the moment with have some compressed images as a preview. Nasa has advanced some information regarding the ...
bandybabboon's user avatar
  • 4,268
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is Pluto a "proto-planet"?

My question is this : could the Charon-Pluto system becomes in the coming few millions years a full fledged planet, as in the IAU classification ? I ask this because there are two facts that bother ...
Cqoicebordel's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
439 views

Have Pluto or any of its moons been mapped?

I was looking over some of the data for the terrestrial planets, and noticed that Venus, despite its cloud covering, had been mapped by the Arecibo Observatory. Also that other planets such as mars, ...
Sarah Szabo's user avatar
  • 2,043
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why are there no stars on New Horizons images of Pluto

I followed the New Horizons Mission a little, and saw among others this image of Pluto: I wonder, why you can't see any stars on it. As far as my very basic knowledge in astronomy goes, I think you ...
muuh's user avatar
  • 261
8 votes
1 answer
583 views

Effect of Charon on Pluto

Even though Pluto is not known as a planet anymore, theroetically it has/had a moon, called Charon. I've heard about something that their size are so close to each other that while Charon rotates ...
Zoltán Schmidt's user avatar

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