pluto - steffin

PLUTOAuburn Mountainview

Karl Steffin, 2017

7/11/2019

GENERAL SPECS

• Original Choices: Zeus, Percival, Constance• Metal/Organ: Bismuth/Pancreas

• Distance: 39.5 AU• Speed: 10446.5 mph• Rotation: 6.38 days @ 123°

• Orbit: 248 years• Diameter: 2374 km• Mass: 1.3x1022 kg

• Density: 1.9 gm/cm3

ECLIPTIC

• The plane that the Earth sweeps out is called the ecliptic.

• All planets orbit on this same plane.• Constellations: twelve zodiac and Ophiuchus.

• Pluto does not.

HADES

• God of Underworld. 1 of the 12 Olympians.• Hades: The Hidden One.• Son of Titans Cronus and Rhea.

• God of afterlife: not negative.

• Mistaken for Plutus, god of wealth.

• Abduction/Rape of Persephone.• Mother Demeter: harvest, fertility.• Now queen of underworld.• Monogamy/no children.

CULTURE

• Movies/TV• Mork and Mindy• Futurama (The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz)• Hercules

• Books• The Whisperer in Darkness (Lovecraft)• Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel)

• Games• Battlezone II• Starsiege

CORE

• Core• Iron Nickel/Rock

• Outer/Surface• Ice

• Atmosphere• Some Nitrogen, Methane, Carbon Monoxide

• 1-Pa (1-mil to 100,000 less than Earth)

MOONS OF PLUTO

• Five known moons.

• Names after things in Pluto's domain.

• First discovered in 1978.• Revised Pluto's Size.

• New Horizons found four more in 2015.

• All thought to be from collisions (Earth-Moon)

CHARON

• Ferryman carried souls across Styx and Acheron.• Son of Nyx and Erebus

• Original thought: Persephone

• Half the diameter of Pluto• Binary Planet System?

• Organic Materials found on pole.

STYX

• Goddess of the River diving Earth and underworld.

• Shatner proposed Vulcan and Romulus.• Vulcan (1st), Cerberus (2nd), Styx (3rd)

• Vulcan already used.

• Varying Orbit.• Not tidally locked.

NIX

• Personification of night, born from Chaos.• Feared by Zeus.

• In a resonance with Hydra and Styx.

• Mostly silicates.

• Six craters.

KERBEROS

• Greek. Three headed guard to gate of the underworld.• Cerberus already given: asteroid.

• Two bodies impacted and stuck.

HYDRA

• Hydra of Lerna, Serpent. Entrance to underworld.

• Outermost Moon.

• Composed of Ice XI• Orthorhombic form of ice.

• Orbits very chaotically.

MISSIONS

• New Horizons• Launched 2006.

• Studied Jupiter 2007. Standby mode.

• Passed 8000 miles in 2015.

• Will pass a comet 2019.

• Study the Kuiper Belt until 2021.

BROTHERS IN ARMS: DWARF PLANETS

Name Notes

Ceres 2.8 AU. “Agriculture”. 33rd largest body. In asteroid belt.

Haumea (Hawaii) 43 AU. Fertility “Santa”. Two Moons: Hiʻiaka, Namaka.

Eris (Greek) 97-40 AU. Strife “Xena”. Has a moon: Dysnomia. Bigger than Pluto (27%).

Makemake (Rapa Nui) 46 AU. Creator/Fertility “Easter bunny”. AKA: Large cubewano.

TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT

• Any object orbiting on average beyond Neptune.

• Two major groups:• Kupier Belt Objects (KBO’s) 30-55 AU (cubewano: Classical)

• Scattered Disc Objects (SDO’s)

• Most imaging not possible.• Spitzer Space Telescope.

• US holds most found objects.• LINEAR, Spacewatch, NEAT,

Mt. Lemmon, LONEOS.

TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT

TRANS-NEPTUNIAN NOTABLES

Name Notes

(225088) 2007 OR10 66 AU. Biggest without a name: temp ‘Snow White’. Gonggong (Chinese).

Varuna (Hindu) 42 AU. Heaven and Water. Largest cubewano. Upgrade to dwarf planet?

Quaoar (Tongva) 42 AU. Creator. Has a moon: Weywot. Large cubewano.

Orcus (Etruscan) 37 AU. Underworld/Broken Oaths. Has a moon: Vanth. Large plutino.

Ixion (Greek) 37 AU. King/Father of Centaurs. Upgrade to dwarf planet due to size?

Sedna (Inuit) 937-76 AU. Water. New Classification of Objects?

Salacia (Greek) 41 AU. Wife Neptune. Has a moon: Actaea. Large cubewano. Dwarf!!!?