Visiting Pluto

Geocache coordinates: 47.6608,-122.5772 | 47°39’39N 122°34’38.3W

True Values
Distance from the Sun:
 3,650,000,000 mi
Diameter: 1,474 mi

Modeled Values
Modeled distance from the Sun: 21,100 feet
Modeled diameter: 0.1 inches

Pluto is a dwarf planet that resides in the Kuiper belt on the outskirts of our solar system. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was considered a planet for more than 75 years before being downgraded to a dwarf planet. Pluto was downgraded for a few reasons – first, it has not “cleared” it’s path. When Earth orbits it is just the Earth and our moon going around our neighborhood. Pluto, on the other hand, is part of an entire asteroid belt that orbits with it. Pluto has more water locked up as ice than Earth does, more than 3 times more!

In our model, Pluto has been shrunk down to 0.1 inches in diameter, just about the size of two pinheads next to each other. 

Pluto is a rocky and icy planet with five known moons.

 

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