Characteristics of Pluto - Essay Example

It has a diameter of 2,368 kilometers, a surface Temperature of -229°C, an orbit distance of 5,874,000,000 kilometers, and an orbit Period of 246 earth years. Its orbital characteristics and pattern are different from those of other planets since the planets follow a circular path in their movement while the Pluto path is highly inclined regarding the sun. This makes it difficult for astronomers to project their orbital patterns in the long run even with aid of computers and other gadgets. This is because these machines are only able to give projections up to a certain period of around ten to twenty million years beyond which they start making inaccurate estimations.  Its rotation period is usually 6.39 earth days implying that one day in Pluto is equivalent to 6.39 days on earth and therefore Earth days are very short when compared to Pluto days.

Pluto is made up of around seventy percent rock and around thirty percent ice which translates to an estimation of a third of its surface being water in form of ice. This water is over three times more than the water which is found on all the earth's surface making studies on Pluto to be of great concern to many people. Scientists believe that the internal structure of the planet is differentiated and the rocky components of the planet are believed to have settled around the core of the ice. This is because the radioactive elements decay with time thus heating the ice making it from a different layer from the rocky one. The astronomers and other scientists have been trying to establish this unique characteristic among other features of the dwarf planet but they have not been able to establish a lot of facts since there are have been no visits to the planet. But the uncertainty surrounding the finer details of the planet is likely to change in July this year when a spacecraft is expected to fly by the planet on its way to the Kuiper belt which is almost in the same location as Pluto.

The atmosphere of the planet is believed to majorly consist of carbon monoxide, Nitrogen, Methane, and traces of other gases that are of negligible proportion when compared to the three (Faure & Mensing, 2007).