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** · These are planets I know: · Jupiter · Mars · Uranus · Venus · Neptune · Moon · Sun · Earth Pluto __was__ a planet but its not now. There are HEAPS of stars in the sky that come out at night. Planets are all different temperatures but the sun is EXTREMLEY hot! Neil Armstrong was the first person to ever go onto the moon.
 * [[image:http://www.meteoritesusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jupiter_earth_comparison.png width="345" height="282"]] The Earth and the Universe

PLUTO IS NOT A PLANET ANYMORE

Back in time people thought that th earth was right in the middle of the univerce. Mars is a very dry planet with no life on it. People are going to Mars to discover it. How Hot Is The Sun? How Do You Make A Telescope? How Does A Solar Storm Happen? How do we know Pluto is not a planet? Pluto, (PLOO toh), is now a dwarf planet that orbits far from the sun. It shares the region of its orbit, known as the Kuiper belt, with a collection of similar icy bodies called Kuiper belt objects (KBO’s). From its discovery in 1930, people widely considered Pluto to be the ninth planet of our solar system. However, because of its small size and irregular orbit, many astronomers questioned whether Pluto should be grouped with worlds like Earth and Jupiter. Pluto seemed to share more similarities with KBO’s. In 2006, this debate led the International Astronomical Union, the recognized authority in naming heavenly objects, to formally classify Pluto as a dwarf planet. Pluto cannot be seen without a telescope. Pluto is a dwarf planet. This is because; Pluto fails to meet the specific requirements of being a planet. A dwarf planet is defined as any spherical object that fails to clear its neighborhood around its orbit. And for an object to be called a planet, it needs to meet certain characteristic features; it should orbit the sun, should be large enough and have sufficient center of gravity to become spherical and last but not the least, it should be a dominating body in its orbit. Though Pluto revolves around the sun, it is very small and does not clear its orbit.
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The identification of Charon is like a milestone in the field of astronomy, With the discovery of Charon that orbits Pluto, astronomers succeeded in determining the actual mass of Pluto. Unlike other planets whose size is much bigger than their moons, the size of Pluto is twice that of Charon. Also, what astronomers found out is that Pluto and Charon are more or less similar to binary planets, which take approximately 6.38 days to complete one revolution around each other. Know more on [|Pluto's moon Charon].

As mentioned already, the main reason for declaration of Pluto as a dwarf planet is that it does not clear its neighborhood in the orbit. Other planets have a strong gravitational force that upon interaction with small celestial bodies (comets, [|asteroids], etc.), they either consume them or sweep them up. In brief, planets have a cleared orbital path, which is not so in case of Pluto. The orbit of Pluto is somewhat untidy, with many other objects around its orbit. Because of this, Pluto is now relegated as a dwarf planet. This is the symbol for Pluto. Bibliography: http://kids.nineplanets.org/pluto.htm

**KEY CONCEPTS** CAUSATIONPpluto REFLECTION

Facts about the Universe:

Space Stations started to get constructed in 1998 There is no boundry of space Pluto is a world of rock and ice. Black holes are made of strong gravity. Space is absoloutly silent.