When Pluto lost its planetary status in 2006, something unexpected happened: declarations of love for this tiny eccentric on the edge of the solar system fell from all over the world.
Searching for "Planet X" by Lowell
Percival Lowell knew that there must be another space object at the edge of the solar system. Based on his calculations, the American astronomer and businessman developed the conviction that the unknown ninth planet should be responsible for the oscillation of the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. For over 10 years before his death in 1916, Lowell tried to look into the veil of darkness from his observatory, which he founded in Flagstaff, Arizona. Although the search for a new cosmic body became a matter of the last years of his life, he was never able to find the elusive "Planet X" at the edge of the solar system.
How Pluto was discovered
It wasn't until the winter of 1930 that 24-year-old assistant Clyde Tombaugh, who worked at Lowell's observatory, compared photographs of sections of the night sky. He noticed a tiny piece of light in one of the photographs that remained stationary against the background of the stars. This object was to the right of where Lowell expected "Planet X" to be. Lowell Observatory announced its discovery of planet nine on March 13, 1930, the anniversary of its founder's birthday. The name for the new planet was invented by 11-year-old English schoolgirl Venice Bernie, and she began to be called Pluto, and not Minerva or Erebus, as was supposed.
Promotional video:
Unusual features of the new planet
But when astronomers began to learn more about Pluto, it turned out that this outer planet of the solar system was a true celestial eccentric. Pluto has the most elliptical and inclined orbit of any other planet. During its 248-year transit around the Sun, Pluto finds itself inside the orbit of the eighth planet - Neptune - when it approaches its perihelion (the closest point to our star - the Sun). Moreover, at the time of the discovery of this new distant planet, astronomers assumed that it could be even larger than Jupiter, but it turned out that its size cannot be compared even with our satellite Moon.
Questions and doubts
As more information became known about Pluto, astronomers began to wonder if it should gain access to an exceptional planetary club, which has somewhat exaggerated requirements. Then in 1992, scientists Jane Lu and David Jewitt of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered the Kuiper belt beyond Pluto's orbit. This is a vast area of debris left over from the formation of the solar system. Among the hundreds of celestial bodies orbiting the sun in the Kuiper belt, there were those with a mass and size similar to Pluto.
When Michael Brown discovered Eris in the Kuiper belt in 2005, with a mass greater than Pluto, it became clear that a change was needed in our understanding of the planetary system.
Deprivation of planetary status
When the International Astronomical Union met in Prague in August 2006, the first issue was the expansion of the solar system to 12 planets. Pluto and its moon Charon, which is half its size, should have been recognized as a binary planet. But this decision was never made. Instead, scientists have redefined the very concept of a planet. It is now defined as a celestial body that revolves around the Sun, usually spherical, and as a result of the force of its gravity can clear the surroundings around its orbit. This last condition of the new definition of the planet led to the fall of the position of Pluto, since it does not have enough mass to affect the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. Thus, Pluto's brief life as a planet ended at the age of 76.
Along with Eris and Ceres - the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter - Pluto has been classified as a dwarf planet. This decision was perceived by some astronomers as a triumph of science over feeling. However, many grew up with the idea that the solar system has nine planets, and therefore could not agree with this decision.
Worldwide love for a heavenly eccentric
Pluto even received an impromptu memorial in Washington DC. It has a small vase of flowers, as well as leaflets that say "Rest in Peace" and "We Miss," inscribed with the names of the remaining eight planets. One of the well-wishers wrote: "Pluto will forever remain a planet in my heart." The vendors did a pretty good job with T-shirts that read "Pluto Was Framed" and "Pluto Was a Planet in My Day." The decision was so controversial that the UCLA astronomer Brown, who discovered Eris, even wrote the book How I Ruined Pluto and Why It Was Inevitable.
Pluto's loss of planetary status remains stressful for those raised on the nine-planet theory. Those people who continue to consider Pluto a planet and doubt the legitimacy of the vote, pay attention to the fact that only a tenth of scientists attended the 2006 conference.
NASA's new discoveries
Regardless of its classification, Pluto continues to bewitch, and this became even more evident after NASA's New Horizon spacecraft passed 12,500 kilometers from its surface last July. This craft was launched in January 2006, when Pluto was still officially a planet, and carried the ashes of Tambo, who died in 1997 at the age of 90. More than a year has passed since this flyby, but New Horizon continues to send amazing high-resolution photos of Pluto. Also, thanks to the apparatus, scientists receive data that show that this now dwarf planet is more geologically active and dynamic than previously thought. Along with the dramatic rise of watery ice mountains and frozen nitrogen plains, Pluto also features a bright region just above the equator.which is shaped like a heart. This is undoubtedly a welcome find for Pluto lovers around the world.
Anna Pismenna
