Pluto & Charon

By: Kevin Cheung

Pluto and Charon
Age of Pluto & Charon
Astronomers believe the age of the solar system is about 4 to 4.5 billion years.
Since no probes have landed on Pluto, and the only photos of the furthest planet
from our sun (most of the time) are taken from a considerable distance, it cannot
be said with certainty what the age of the planet is. But most astronomers think
that all of the planets were formed at the same time out of the large body of gas
and dust that once surrounded the sun.
Pluto
Facts of Pluto
Discovered in 1930

Too small to have rings

Plutos distance for the sun is 5.9 billion km the exact number is 5,906,376,272 km.

Charon orbit around pluto made it wobble.

King of the Kuiper Belt :D

Other names : Clymenus (notorious), Eubuleus (well-guessing), The Wealthy One, The
Hospitable One, Polydegmon (The Receiver of Many Guests), Lord of Death, Pluton
(the Rich One)
Moons
Pluto surface
Details on picture above (and what it is made
of)
Layers of frozen methane turn brown and yellow from the ultraviolet irradiation
of icebound molecules. The rugged topography, active geysers, and distant rift
suggest Pluto has dynamic geological processes that erase the scars of impact
craters and could indicate a warm planetary core

Pluto atmosphere is a thin envelope of gases, Although unsure scientist think it is

made of nitrogen, closely related to the atmosphere on the moon Triton
(Neptunes moon)
Recent Photos
July, 14, 2015
The New Horizons
spacecraft will zip past
Pluto and its five known
moons. Nobody really
knows what it will find.

(Closest spacecraft to take

pictures of the moon)
Earth and Pluto Size Difference
 Atmosphere
Very thin Atmosphere but very
huge
Close up of Atmosphere
Mythology of Pluto
Pluto was God of the underworld and its riches
Pluto is an alternative name for the
Greek god Hades
Abducted Persephone Aka Kore The Maiden

Albrecht Drer,
Abduction of Proserpine on a Uni
corn
(1516)
Pluto from Sailor Moon (Anime) In pop culture
Pluto New Horizon
Grand Tour, Had to get funding from Congress, not known for scientific funding,
Started budget cutting

Results: 2 Pioneer spacecraft, 2 Voyagers spacecraft, Although Pluto was not included

Hubble telescope launch in 1996, got first few pictures of Pluto

Finally got funding from congress to the New Horizon spacecraft

New Horizon Launch was in 2006, Took 9 years to get to pluto, Arrival Last July

35 Slides of the New Horizon Stuff/1 hour Video in

slides of things After this point ._.
Space Team

Red Arrow = Guest

speaker
Dr. John Spencer
Before 1988 Atmosphere
Pluto and Siblings
Finish Product
Instruments
Wrapped in Gold Foiled for heat insulation because
space is cold
Clyde Tombaugh visits the planet he
discovers.
Before launch
Enclosed, Getting ready
for bourding

Green dot represent

where the new
horizon is.
Launch
New Horizon Travel through space
9 Hours to get past the orbit of our moon

Crossed orbit of mars in a matter of a month or two

Jupiter- 13 Months after launch

Very important or the New Horizon because the gravity would give a
boost to pluto to cut flight time (2 Years difference!)

Different celebration after each orbit passing

9 year flight

10 miles a second, Pluto system=Few Hours, 4 hours for Radio

Signal to get to the space craft
Through Jupitor Tragectory
Example of
different
instruments to
see the different
details about the
target
New Horizon
Discoveries

June 2015, The

Beginning of the
approach
Discoveries
Unknown reasons for
Black pole

Often planets often

have polar caps and
polar caps are usually
white because it's
made of ice because
it's cold in the pole
Is It safe?
With continuing discoveries in its
flight such as the 4 small moons,
and as they look they find more and
more, So thought of a lot of debris
orbiting around pluto. And the
spacecraft crashing into one of them

S-Styx N-Nix H- Hydra K-Kerberos

About a thousand pictures of --->

No new discoveries about smaller

moons
Hazard team
Red line pointing at a Harry
Potter magic wand, Good
luck totem

Was in June
At the time

String of Black
dots along the
equator
Was odd looking
and never seen
around with
other plants
before.
Danger
Scary Moment
Computer crashes due
to large amount of
information

Program diagnosed
and list how to fix for
it to be running again
Pluto Showing
Love
Clearly Pluto was saw the
new horizon coming and
gave the astronomer a heart
Weirder
Disappointment, Pluto has
a 6 day rotation period, So
when the voyager gets close
enough black spots are on
the other side.

Best picture of the black

spot for many years to come
Last picture
Red arrow = Heart
Areas with or without
creators

Some region new and old,

some smooth areas.
Planning
Diagram
Long Line is the spacecraft going
through the system

Color lines are what kind of

picture it is taking

Blue- Black and White Pictures

Red: Infrared Spectrum

Same Picture

Attennas faces earth

again to send us the
images it has taken
Terrain of Pluto
Looking back on pluto with the sun behind it
Also really smooth
Nitrogen cycle of
pluto, Nitrogen sea
heats up, condenses
and falls back down
Other Facts about the New Horizon or Pluto
50 gigabits of information

1000-2000 Bits a second

1 year to get data, Closest to best pictures first

Christmas or early next year more stuff from the New Horizon

Pluto has a frozen lake of nitrogen and has an escape rate of nitrogen

Over the age of the solar system and its rate of escape, it has lost
about a to a kilometer of nitrogen

Rock in the middle, Ice in the middle, Exotic ice on top (gases that are
frozen)
Moons of Pluto, Around 20-25 miles across
Correct distance of
Pluto and Charon

Pluto-------
>
Final
Will be able to talk to the
spacecraft for another 15
years

mid 20-30 the spacecraft power

supply with die.
Charon
Heres a picture of Charon The End
Mountain in a Moat
Major source of stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaBB_9talDU

1 Hour 12 Minutes 52 Seconds long