Pluto is bigger than expected NASA scientists say – LaRepública.pe

 Irene Klotz. Reuters

 

 During the passage of 30 minutes and five satellites Pluto, New Horizons he conducted a carefully choreographed series of maneuvers to position their cameras and scientific instruments to capture hundreds of observations.

 

 Until now, scientists found that Pluto, once considered the ninth and outermost planet of the Solar System, is larger than thought, with a diameter of about 2,370 kilometers, about 80 wider than previous measurements kilometers.

 Pluto is now officially bigger than Eris, one of hundreds of thousands of small planets and comets like beyond Neptune in a region called the Kuiper Belt objects. The discovery of this area in 1992 led to the official re-designation of Pluto from planet to “dwarf planet”.

 

  It’s not that dwarf

 

 Size matters, even dwarf planets. The increase in circumference means that Pluto is a little more ice and a little less rock than expected, an important detail for scientists trying to decipher the history of when the planet and the rest of the solar system were formed.

 

 “The Pluto system is a fossil remnant of the early solar system,” said NASA chief scientist, John Grunsfeld. “We will learn a lot about that,” he said.

 The diameter of Pluto also affects the atmosphere, according to what caught the probe is flowing to space faster than expected.

 

 Most New Horizons data will be stored in the vessel and transmitted to Earth after the probe through the Pluto system.

 Flight controllers expect to receive a short message from the probe at 21.00 local time on Tuesday that he survived his approach to the planet.

 

 Alan Stern, one of the leading scientists of the mission, said that there was a one in 10,000 chance that a collision with debris could destroy the probe when approaching Pluto.

 “We’re flying into the unknown,” Stern said. “I do not lose sleep, but the fact is that tomorrow evening there will be some drama,” he said.