1 / 41

3 -11 Pluto et al.

3 -11 Pluto et al. Pluto: Greek god of the underworld. Pluto discovery Plate. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. HST: first images of the surface. HST. Pluto's icy surface is 98% nitrogen. Pluto is colder than 200 o C.

bebe
Download Presentation

3 -11 Pluto et al.

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. 3 -11 Pluto et al. Pluto: Greek god of the underworld

  2. Pluto discovery Plate Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh

  3. HST: first images of the surface HST

  4. Pluto's icy surface is 98% nitrogen Pluto is colder than 200o C Thin atmosphere that freezes and falls to the surface as the planet moves away from the Sun 0.25% of the Earth’s mass

  5. Pluto Charon

  6. Pluto from Charon When your spacecraft reach Pluto, the Sun has shrunk to the size of a pinhead Artist view

  7. Anomalous orbit 1980s – 1990s: Pluto was the 8th planet 1999 – 2227: 9th planet

  8. Sizes

  9. Artist view of Pluto’s surface

  10. Sedna (2003 VB12) Artist view

  11. Inuit Goddess of the arctic sea (2003 VB12)

  12. Sedna’s orbit

  13. Crossing of two stars surrounded by 20,000 planetesimals The passing star pulls on the planets orbiting the second star, giving them elongated orbits

  14. Is Sedna a planet? No more than Pluto We have either 8 or 10 planets in the solar system What is a planet? No precise definition Feb 99: International Astronomical Union ruled officially that Pluto is a planet

  15. Artist view

  16. Varuna Vedic god: the keeper of the cosmic order

  17. Pluto Varuna

  18. Varuna belongs to the Kuiper Belt Similar to the asteroid belt, but beyond Neptune and contains maybe 100 times more material Kuiper Belt Objects = KBOs

  19. Some KBOs (or TNOs) There are about 600 known KBOs, most of which are only about 100 km in diameter

  20. Quaoar Found in June 2002 Larger KBO known Artist view 42 AU from the Sun (Pluto ~ 30 AU)

  21. HST , measurement of diameter: 1250 km

  22. size

  23. e =0.04 Orbit : 8o out of the ecliptic

  24. How was Quaoar found?

  25. Artist view: the surface of Quaoar

  26. The Tongva people inhabited the Los Angeles area before the arrival of the Spanish 'Quaoar' the great force of creation sings and dances the Deities into existence

  27. There could be 20 Quaoars and a few Plutos are out there waiting to be discovered Is Sedna a KBO? NO Sedna never enters the Kuiper belt

  28. News

  29. October 2005: 2003UB313 (Xena) has a moon: Gabrielle! 3 times further away than Pluto Diameter ≈ 2700km (Pluto ≈ 2300 km) 10th planet?

  30. November 2005

  31. Pluto might have two more moons (P1 and P2) Pluto P1 Charon P2

  32. Charon New moons Pluto

  33. New Horizons Will explore Pluto and Kuiper Belt

  34. If all goes as planned, New Horizons will launch early in 2006 • Depending on the launch date, it may or may not pick up a gravity assist from Jupiter, which would make a difference of 4 years in the length of its trip • At the earliest it will reach Pluto in 2015

  35. New Horizons assembly at Johns Hopkins Laboratory, January 2005

  36. Space is empty: Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and other drifting detritus, fill less than a trillionth (1 / 1,000,000,000,000) of the available space None of the classroom maps are drawn to scale

  37. The solar system does not end here We have only covered 1/10,000 of the way: The solar system is 50,000 AU large! Next, we will visit the Oort cloud, the realm of the drifting comets Comet Tempel 1 (animation)

More Related