Pluto
"Pluto in True Color - High-Res" — Photo by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
A frosty celestial underdog cast into the shadows.
Once considered the ninth wanderer of our local star system, this icy body was stripped of its status in the early 21st century. It remains a fascinating object of study for those who look far beyond the familiar.
Did you know?
It takes nearly 248 Earth years for this object to complete a single trip around the Sun.
“A god of the underworld provides a fitting name for such a lonely exile.”
“It was discovered by an American astronomer looking for a predicted planet X.”
“It has a heart-shaped nitrogen glacier that spans over a thousand kilometres.”
“The New Horizons spacecraft captured its first close-up images in 2015.”
“It was officially downgraded from full planetary status by the IAU in 2006.”