The Aerospace Club

NEWSLETTER

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Edition 1

September 26, 2014

THE AEROSPACE CLUB – NIT WARANGAL

ContentsCOVER STORY

Pluto: The Abandoned Orphan

FEATURES

Introduction: So What is This All About?

History: Once Upon a Time There was Pluto

FUN TIME

Puzzles

Crosswords

Quizzes

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Pluto: The Abandoned OrphanRanul Jain

Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved todemote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planet hood that isbeing billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic andcultural influences. But already the decision is being hotlydebated. So what gets Pluto out of the pack of planets? Why isPluto the most sought after topic of debate? What is NASA’s bigplan in the game? To know more, check out this exclusive articlewhich unravels the mystery of lost glory of Pluto.

Introduction: So What is This All About?

To start with, in August 2006 the International AstronomicalUnion (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of"dwarf planet." This means that from now on only the rockyworlds of the inner Solar System and the gas giants of theouter system will be designated as planets.Actually; the“inner Solar System” is the region of space that is smallerthan the radius of Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. It containsthe asteroid belt as well as the terrestrial planets, Mercury,Venus, Earth, and Mars. The “gas giants” of course areJupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. So now we haveeight planets instead of the nine we used to have.

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History: Once Upon a Time There was Pluto

Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 at the Lowell

Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, by astronomer Clyde W.

Tombaugh, with contributions from William H. Pickering. This

period in astronomy was one of intense planet hunting, and

Pickering was a prolific planet predictor.

The discovery made headlines across the globe. The Lowell

Observatory, which had the right to name the new object,

received over 1,000 suggestions from all over the world; the

name Pluto was proposed by Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-

old schoolgirl in Oxford, England. Venetia was interested in

classical mythology as well as astronomy, and considered the

name for the god of the underworld appropriate for such a

presumably dark and cold world. She suggested it in a

conversation with her grandfather Falconer Madan, a former

librarian at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library. Madan

passed the name to Professor Herbert Hall Turner, who then

cabled it to colleagues in the United States. Pluto officially

became Pluto on March 24, 1930. The name was announced

on May 1, 1930, and Venetia received five pounds (£5) as a

reward.

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Moving on... What Basically Dwarf Planets Are?

A “dwarf planet,” as defined by the IAU, is a celestial body indirect orbit of the Sun that is massive enough that its shape iscontrolled by gravitational forces rather than mechanical forces(and is thus ellipsoid in shape), but has not cleared itsneighbouring region of other objects.

So, the three criteria of the IAU for a full-sized planet are:

It is in orbit around the Sun.

It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (round)

It has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.

The Big Question: So what’s wrong with Pluto?

The thing is that Pluto meets only two of these criteria, losing outon the third. In all the billions of years it has lived there, it has notmanaged to clear its neighbourhood. You may wonder whatthat means, “not clearing its neighbouring region of otherobjects?” Sounds like a minesweeper in space! This means thatthe planet has become gravitationally dominant -- there are noother bodies of comparable size other than its own satellites orthose otherwise under its gravitational influence, in its vicinity inspace. We see the "rule violation" that has arisen, but what does"cleared its neighbourhood" mean?

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As planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body

in their orbit in the Solar System. As they interact with other,

smaller objects along their orbital path, they either consume

them or sling them away with their gravity. Pluto is only 0.07

times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth, in

comparison, has 1.7 million times the mass of the other objects in

its orbit.

Any object that doesn't meet this 3rd criterion is considered a

dwarf planet. And that makes Pluto a dwarf planet. There are

still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling

around in its orbit. And until Pluto crashes into many of them and

gains mass, it will remain a dwarf planet.

What Is Nasa Doing About It?

Even though Pluto is a dwarf planet, and no longer officially a

planet, it'll still be a fascinating target for study. And that's why

NASA has sent their New Horizons spacecraft off to visit it. New

Horizons will reach Pluto in July 2015, and it will capture the first

closeup images of the (dwarf) planet's surface.

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New Horizons is basically a NASA space probe launched to

study the dwarf planet Pluto, its moons and one or two Kuiper

Belt objects, depending on which are in position to be explored.

New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter

for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and

will conduct a five-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of

Pluto and its moons in summer 2015. Pluto closest approach is

scheduled for July 14, 2015. As part of an extended mission, the

spacecraft is expected to head farther into the Kuiper Belt to

examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast

region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit. Sending a

spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic

questions about the surface properties, geology, interior

makeup and atmospheres on these bodies.

At the end I would wind up by saying Space enthusiasts will

marvel at the beauty and remoteness of Pluto, and the painful

deplaneting memories will fade. We'll just be able to appreciate

it as Pluto, and not worry how to categorize it. At least now you

know why Pluto was demoted.

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Pluto is not considered a planet because it shares its orbital

neighbourhood with many other objects, so it fails one of the

criteria for a planet established in 2006.

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Few videos:

Is Pluto a planet?

A True Story About Planet Pluto:

Passport to Pluto and Beyond

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