Friday, February 5, 2010

Pluto

Hubble Space telescope images show that Pluto is changing color rapidly! It is showing more and more red color. In fact it is showing 20% more red color on its surface. These changes are unexpected because seasons can last up to 120 days on Pluto and it takes 248 years to orbit the sun. Scientists are saying that solar winds and other factors strip off the hydrogen in the atmosphere and leaves carbon-rich deposits on the surface which are red in color. These pictures were taken in 2002 but are just now being released because the scientist that found it thought he was wrong. After further examination he realized that these were real changes. Since Pluto's moon hadn't changed color it was not a equipment malfunction. They are still unsure of why the change happened so rapidly.

7 comments:

  1. Thats pretty interesting to read i didn't know that a chemical change can alter a planets color.

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  2. I agree with Holskey, this is interesting... though I'm still mad at Pluto for not being a planet.

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  3. Pluto will always be a planet in my mind. Thats how I learned it and thats how it will stay. I mean seriously how long was it a planet for? It deserves to be a planet. Who cares how little it is!?

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  4. Wow, interesting. I didn't know carbon could turn Pluto red. I think Pluto should still be a planet too.

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  5. Hmm, that's neat. It's just always confused me when they took pluto out. Some people still say it is a planet and others totally disagree.

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  6. That's pretty cool. I think Pluto should still be a planet though. I dont see why they dont consider Pluto a planet.

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  7. That is pretty cool. Too bad we can't go to pluto and explore.

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