MULTIMEDIA: FUN FACTS
 
 
Not everything here is serious science. Sometimes scientists like to have a little fun and excitement, too! Here you'll find weird facts and interesting things about the spacecraft, Pluto, or the Kuiper Belt that you probably didn't know!

The Amazing Vanishing Atmosphere!
I see!
Hi, Neighbor!
Eight or Nine?
What Else?
 
       
 
 
The Amazing Vanishing Atmosphere!
"Pluto is just a big, boring rock floating out there in space. There's nothing interesting about it."

Or is there?

Being as far from the Sun as it is, there are some pretty interesting things about Pluto. First off, Pluto has a very eccentric orbit. This means that at some points in its orbit, it's closer to the Sun than at other times. This makes for an interesting situation; Pluto has a thin atmosphere (as has been discussed in other parts of the website). When Pluto is closer in its orbit to the Sun, everything is fine. But when Pluto starts to get farther from the Sun, trouble sets in.

The atmosphere begins to freeze and snow down onto the surface of Pluto. By the time Pluto has moved near its farthest point from the Sun, it in fact has no more atmosphere at all! All of it has snowed onto the surface! How's that for a disappearing trick?
 
 
I See!
At its current location, it takes light from the Sun about 4.5 hrs to reach Pluto. Pluto is so far away that light, the fastest possible thing ever, takes 4.5 hours to get there! In comparison, it takes light from the Sun 8 minutes to get to the Earth.

Just to make this interesting, consider the following. You live on Pluto in a sealed environment. Life is good and you couldn't really ask for more. All of a sudden, you see the small, dim Sun explode in the sky! The Sun has just exploded!

But wait! It look light 4.5 hrs to reach you. That means that the Sun actually exploded 4.5 hours ago and you are just now seeing it! It's almost like looking into the past and seeing something that happened a little while ago! Wild!

Could the Sun really explode like that? Probably not, but it makes for something interesting to think about, doesn't it? At any rate, don't worry, since this kind of thing couldn't happen for almost 5 billion years anyways!
 
 
Hi, Neighbor!
The Kuiper Belt is big and far away. I mean, come on, it's out beyond Pluto! But there are things to go farther.

Out past the Kuiper Belt is something known as the Oort Cloud. It is hypothesized that this is where a lot of comets come from. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that the Oort Cloud is divided into 2 regions: the Inner Oort Cloud and the Outer Oort Cloud. Scientists think that the Outer Oort Cloud stretches out so far that it actually touches the edge of the Outer Oort Cloud of our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri!

This would mean that there is a part of our Solar System that stretches out 2 light years!
 
 
Eight or Nine?
Pluto is a somewhat unique planet. When it was originally discovered in 1930, it was designated as the 9th planet in our Solar System, and everyone accepted it.

But it hasn't stayed that way. Pluto is small; there are moons of Jupiter that are larger than Pluto! This has made some people wonder if it was a mistake to call Pluto a planet. I mean, come on, there are MOONS that are bigger than it! So at various points since it has been discovered, there has been some argument as to whether or not Pluto deserves to remain a planet.

So far, the general consensus remains "yes" but who knows? One of these days, our Solar System may have only 8 planets instead of 9!

If you want to know more about this, check out what this page has to say!
 
 
What Else?
So you want more? Go here for more!