The Pluto puzzle
- POSTED ON: 2 May, 2023
- TOTAL VIEWS: 172 Views
- POSTED BY: Madhuvanti S. Krishnan
- ARTICLE POINTS: 150 Points
How many planets do we have in our solar system? Well, for the longest time, we had nine, including Pluto, the tiniest of them all. But, how did Pluto come to be? It all started in 1906, when Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, began an extensive search for a potential ninth planet, which he termed “Planet X.” In fact, the search went on till his death in 1916, but there was no progress in the quest for the elusive planet.
The search for Planet X came to a halt and did not resume until 1929, when the job was handed to Clyde Tombaugh, a 23-year-old from Kansas, who had just arrived at the Lowell Observatory. On February 18, 1930, after nearly a year of searching, the youngster discovered a possible moving object on the photographic plates taken earlier that January. Once the observatory obtained more proof from photographs, the Harvard College Observatory received news of confirmation on March 13, 1930. The Lowell Observatory, which had the right to name the new object, received over 1,000 suggestions from across the globe, and the name Pluto was proposed by a 11-year old. The new planet, thus, officially became Pluto on March 24, 1930., and the name was announced on May 1. It continued to remain a planet until August 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded its status to that of “dwarf planet.”
How much do you know about Pluto? Try your hand at these multiple-choice questions to find out.