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pluto TO BE OR NOT TO BE, PLUTO Ever since Pluto was discovered in the early twentieth century, there has been controversy over its status as a major planet. Technology
pluto Pluto Come wander with me, she said, Into regions yet untrod; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God. - Longfellow Although Pluto was discovered
Pluto In the outer limits of our solar system there is a planet unlike any other, Pluto. Pluto was discovered in February of 1930 by an American astronomer, Clyde
Pluto: A Planet? Pluto: A Planet? Many issues have arisen from the debate whether or not Pluto is a planet. Some astronomers say that Pluto should be classified
Pluto Introduction My project is about Pluto. It is the ninth planet from the sun and the smallest. Pluto is also the planet least known about, so in the following
Submitted by chinaman4u on February 26, 2006
Category: Science
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TO BE OR NOT TO BE, PLUTO
Ever since Pluto was discovered in the early twentieth century, there has been controversy over its status as a major planet. Technology was extremely limited compared to what is available today. It was by tracking the larger planets and using Newtonian physics, that Pluto was found. Pluto's position was estimated by calculating its gravitational effects on the orbits of the other planets. Through these calculations, Pluto was estimated to be a certain mass and be within a certain area. This area was then searched relentlessly using Earth based telescopes. Early in astronomy, moving objects in space was found by comparing two images taken a period of time apart. Differences within the two images represent a moving object against a background of distant nonmoving stars. So when Pluto was found, it was nothing more than a pinpoint of light on a plate negative. At the time it was only through observations from Earth and an educated guess, did we speculate what Pluto is or is not. Now almost a century later, with more advanced technology we have learned much more about our solar system and Pluto. With a better understanding of how our solar system was formed and the recent discovery of other Pluto-like objects in space, many feel that Pluto is not a planet at all. There is even speculation of objects larger than Pluto to be discovered!
Using basic knowledge of physics and the orbital motion of the eight planets, a ninth planet was thought to exist. Its location was calculated and in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (Stern, 18) discovered Pluto using his telescope. Tombaugh, on March 13, 1903 (Stern, 18) announced the finding of the ninth planet, Pluto. Looking through any telescope on Earth, Pluto looks like a dim star, nothing more than a speck in the sky. With its extreme distance, even the large orbiting Hubble Space Telescope fails to resolve...
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