I'm going to speak for the entire population for a second and say that denouncing Pluto's planetary status was a low blow. It was also a heartbreaking way to ruin the acronym that so many of us learned at a young age to remember the planets: My Very Excellent Mother Just Sold Us Nine Pizzas. Now it doesn't make sense! What did our mother sell us?!
It's been a long time since anyone really seemed to care about poor Pluto floating around the universe alone and by itself ... until now! The nine-year mission to Pluto for more information has finally brought back the attention that Pluto deserves. New Horizons was a probe that was sent out into space on January 19, 2006 (when Pluto still WAS a real planet), to its destination, and on July 15, 2015 (when it WASN'T a real planet), New Horizons finally sent some images. And they are absolutely incredible.
Here are some reasons why this mission was the coolest thing to ever happen to the thing that used to be the ninth planet:
The new pictures of Pluto
I'm not sure if the rest of you realize how absolutely amazing it is that there are new clear photos of Pluto. Compared to what the Hubble Telescope could capture, the difference is like night and day!
I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that is. At no time did I ever think that we would have the technology to even come close to capturing pictures of Pluto like this. Also how cute is it that Pluto has a heart shaped frozen plain. Which definitely starts to tell us what Pluto is composed of. Not to mention we also captured pictures of Pluto's moon, Charon. Charon is nearly half the size of Pluto and orbits Pluto about once every six Earth days. The photos of Pluto along side of Charon are really cool and puts to perspective the size comparison
The surface of Pluto
The New Horizons team was also able to get photos of the surface of this wonderful dwarf planet. These photos show that the planet could be composed of ice and even mountainous terrain. Most scientists agree that Pluto is incapable of holding life, however, a few scientists seem to think that there could be a body of water of some sort underneath the outer layer. New developments for the next time they flyby!
© JHUAPL / SWRI, NASA
© JHUAPL / SWRI, NASAThe fact that Pluto resembles the adorable Disney character
Many people were happy to find out that the planet had a resemblance of the lovable Disney character that shares the same name! If you also have a hard time seeing the resemblance like I did, here's a little help.
Adorable in both planet, and Disney character form.
The New Horizons Team
Not only was the New Horizons team successful with their mission, they also decided to have a little fun with their project. Of course all work and no play just makes people bitter, these team members sure wanted to embrace the history that they created.
They have bumper stickers that say, "My other vehicle is on its way to Pluto." Which is definitely adorable to say the least!
Hopefully this isn't the last time that we will be able to do a flyby of Pluto and maybe even other dwarf planets or other things in our solar system. This technology could potentially get us further into the universe than we have ever been before. Pluto is just the beginning of an amazing new adventure into the future of discovery. But for now, it isn't goodbye to Pluto, it's a see you later!
