Easy Pluto Trivia Questions
What is Pluto?
A: Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a
ring of bodies beyond Neptune.
It was the first “what” to be discovered?
A: Kuiper belt object.
Who discovered Pluto?
A: It was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.
In what year did he discover it?
A: In 1930.
Originally was considered to be the ninth what?
A: Planet from the Sun.
After 1992, its planethood was questioned
following the discovery of what?
A: Several objects of similar size in the Kuiper
belt.
What was discovered in 2005?
A: Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto.
This led the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
to do what?
A: Define the term "planet" formally.
What did that definition do to Pluto?
A: Excluded it.
Pluto was reclassified it as a what?
A: Dwarf planet.
Pluto is the largest and second-most-massive
known what?
A: Dwarf planet in the Solar System.
It’s the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive
known object doing what?
A: Directly orbiting the Sun.
It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object
by volume but is less massive than what?
A: Eris, a dwarf planet in the scattered disc.
Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is
primarily made of what?
A: Ice and rock and is relatively small.
Pluto has about one-sixth the mass of what?
A: The Moon and one-third its volume.
Pluto has a moderately eccentric and inclined
what?
A: Orbit.
During its orbit it ranges from 30 to 49
astronomical units or AU (4.4–7.4 billion km)
from what?
A: The Sun.
This means that Pluto periodically comes closer
to the Sun than what planet?
A: Neptune, but a stable orbital resonance with
Neptune prevents them from colliding.
Light from the Sun takes about how long to reach
Pluto on average?
A: 5.5.
How many moons does Pluto have?
A: Five.
What are the names of Pluto’s moons?
A: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra.
Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a
what??
A: A binary system.
The IAU has not formalized a definition for
binary dwarf planets, and Charon is officially
classified as a what?
A: A moon of Pluto.
On July 14, 2015, what craft became the first
spacecraft to fly by Pluto?
A: New Horizons spacecraft.