Hi doglover, you may have heard that Pluto has been downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet. This is because it is not big enough to clear other objects out of its orbit, a requirement of being a planet. However, the way we classify it doesn’t tell us anything about it’s orbit.
All the planets have an elliptical orbit, which means that they are not perfectly circular. For most of them though, you can’t tell that it’s not a perfect circle. Pluto is said to have high eccentricity, which means that its orbit looks like a very squashed circle. It’s also on a different angle to the orbits of the other planets (there’s a good picture here: http://www.universetoday.com/13865/orbit-of-pluto/).
Eccentricity is determined by gravitational attractions from other orbiting bodies and varies over time. I can’t find exactly why Pluto is so eccentric but I think it might be because it is quite small so is more affected by the gravity of other planets. Pluto is also interesting as it orbits in partnership with its largest moon Charon, so instead of having its centre of gravity inside itself (as the Earth does), the centre of gravity is between the two.
I’ve done a bit of research on the internet and it looks like the reason is because pluto is so small. Pluto’s small size means the planet is affected by small changes in the solar system that does not affect the orbit of the other larger planets.
Pluto certainly has a unique orbital path. In fact, in some parts of it’s orbit, pluto is closer to the sun than neptune. Pluto’s orbit is also difficult to predict a long time in advance. It’s orbit is “chaotic” which does not mean it is unstable, but it means that pluto’s orbit cannot be predicted several million years from now, while the same prediction would be possible for the other planets
Wait, I always thought this was because Pluto was captured a long time ago, like a kind of super comet. Besides being in a more elliptical orbit (there are times it’s not the furthest planet from the sun) it’s also at an angle to the others. Comets do that too.
It’s thought that the planets are all formed from a huge disk of dust and gas that formed the sun. They’re all in the same plane for the same reason clay on a potter’s wheel spreads out in one direction – the whole thing was rotating and bits were flung out. Pluto orbits way outside this plane, meaning it was either captured later or it was the result of some collision that flung it into a strange orbit.
If only it was a more interesting planet, we could go there and take samples and see what it’s made of.
Hi doglover, you may have heard that Pluto has been downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet. This is because it is not big enough to clear other objects out of its orbit, a requirement of being a planet. However, the way we classify it doesn’t tell us anything about it’s orbit.
All the planets have an elliptical orbit, which means that they are not perfectly circular. For most of them though, you can’t tell that it’s not a perfect circle. Pluto is said to have high eccentricity, which means that its orbit looks like a very squashed circle. It’s also on a different angle to the orbits of the other planets (there’s a good picture here: http://www.universetoday.com/13865/orbit-of-pluto/).
Eccentricity is determined by gravitational attractions from other orbiting bodies and varies over time. I can’t find exactly why Pluto is so eccentric but I think it might be because it is quite small so is more affected by the gravity of other planets. Pluto is also interesting as it orbits in partnership with its largest moon Charon, so instead of having its centre of gravity inside itself (as the Earth does), the centre of gravity is between the two.
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I’ve done a bit of research on the internet and it looks like the reason is because pluto is so small. Pluto’s small size means the planet is affected by small changes in the solar system that does not affect the orbit of the other larger planets.
Pluto certainly has a unique orbital path. In fact, in some parts of it’s orbit, pluto is closer to the sun than neptune. Pluto’s orbit is also difficult to predict a long time in advance. It’s orbit is “chaotic” which does not mean it is unstable, but it means that pluto’s orbit cannot be predicted several million years from now, while the same prediction would be possible for the other planets
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I don’t know. Pass.
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Wait, I always thought this was because Pluto was captured a long time ago, like a kind of super comet. Besides being in a more elliptical orbit (there are times it’s not the furthest planet from the sun) it’s also at an angle to the others. Comets do that too.
It’s thought that the planets are all formed from a huge disk of dust and gas that formed the sun. They’re all in the same plane for the same reason clay on a potter’s wheel spreads out in one direction – the whole thing was rotating and bits were flung out. Pluto orbits way outside this plane, meaning it was either captured later or it was the result of some collision that flung it into a strange orbit.
If only it was a more interesting planet, we could go there and take samples and see what it’s made of.
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I have absolutely no idea on this one and I couldn’t really find any information to help me answer this one. Sorry.
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