953 nut 56,776 #1 Posted Tuesday at 12:42 PM Pluto Day is celebrated annually on February 18 to commemorate the anniversary of the discovery of Pluto in 1930. The planet, known for its characteristic icy mountains and tiny size was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and, up until 2006, was considered one of the nine planets in the solar system together with Mercury, Venus, our current planet of Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Clyde discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona just 84 years after the discovery of Neptune. The planet, which was named after the Roman god of the Underworld, was considered one of the nine planets in the solar system up until 2006. The International Astronomical Union reduced its status and tagged it a ‘dwarf’ planet due to not meeting the criteria to be considered a full-sized planet and being two-third of the size of the earth. It is believed that the first two letters in ‘Pluto’ were in honor of Percival Lowell whose belief that there were other planets beyond Neptune, helped fuel the drive that led to its discovery. 3 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SylvanLakeWH 26,599 #2 Posted Tuesday at 01:44 PM 1 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
