Original photo by Ridofranz/ iStock
If you ever wondered how everyone’s favorite not-quite-planet got its name, rest assured that the answer has nothing to do with Mickey Mouse’s dog. Discovered in 1930 and now considered a dwarf planet — a downgraded designation that fans call a grave injustice — Pluto first came to the attention of a young Brit named Venetia Burney via her grandfather, who read a newspaper article about its discovery to her on the morning of March 14, 1930. An unusually bright 11-year-old whose knowledge of celestial objects was surpassed only by her passion for classical mythology, Burney simply said, “Why not call it Pluto?” (Pluto was an ancient Greek god of the underworld.)
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fibNeither Mercury nor Venus has any natural satellites, most likely because they’re too close to the sun. Any moon too far from them would likely be captured by the sun, and one too close would be destroyed by tidal gravitational forces.
Most children’s suggestions on topics such as this wouldn’t travel beyond their own breakfast table, but most children aren’t the granddaughter of a retired Oxford University librarian who happens to know a well-placed astronomer. “I think PLUTO excellent!!,” that astronomer responded to the grandfather’s suggestion, before passing along the idea to his colleagues at the observatory in Arizona who had discovered the “dark and gloomy” planet. The astronomers voted unanimously in favor of it. Seventy-eight years later, in 2008, the wholesome astronomical episode was the subject of a short documentary that no less an authority than Burney herself deemed “a masterpiece.”
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The smallest planet in the solar system is ______.
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The smallest planet in the solar system is Mercury.
Many astronomers believe there’s a “real” ninth planet.
Disrespect to Pluto notwithstanding, a growing number of researchers have theorized the existence of a “real” ninth planet — and found evidence that it exists. With a “bizarre, highly elongated orbit” and mass perhaps 10 times that of Earth, the hypothetical heavenly body might be easy to find were it not for the fact that it’s thought to be 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune (and much farther away than Pluto). It could take 7,400 Earth years for Planet Nine to fully orbit the center of our solar system, whereas Pluto takes just 248. Skeptics suggest that Planet Nine doesn’t exist, however, and attempts to locate it have thus far proven unsuccessful.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
