Interesting Facts  About Pluto  

Photographic evidence of the former ninth planet was first sighted by 24-year-old research assistant Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.  

Pluto was first discovered by a young research assistant in 1930

When Venetia Burney’s grandfather told her the news of the newly discovered planet, she proposed the name Pluto, after the Roman god of the Underworld.

An 11-year-old girl gave Pluto its name 

Pluto is smaller than Earth’s moon but larger than previously thought

Pluto is 1,473 miles in diameter, according to recent measurements obtained from New Horizons, while Earth’s moon has a diameter of 2,160 miles. Pluto is 18.5% the size of Earth. 

Pluto is 1,473 miles in diameter, according to recent measurements obtained from New Horizons, while Earth’s moon has a diameter of 2,160 miles. Pluto is 18.5% the size of Earth.

Disney’s Pluto the dog was named after the former planet

Disney animators speculated that Walt Disney chose the name to capitalize on the hubbub surrounding the new planet.

New Horizons, the first vessel devoted to studying Pluto’s environment, is the size of a grand piano

Pluto has a heart shape on its surface

Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006–but not for the commonly believed reason.

Scientists discovered the Solar System’s third zone because of Pluto

As Jeff Moore at NASA told TIME, “Pluto may be the star witness to the whole third zone of the solar system.”

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