May 31, 2020
By: Haris Ahmad[1]
In my previous blog, I explained the fifth and sixth planets from the Sun which were from a type of planets called the Gas Giants. In this blog, I will explain the last two planets of the Solar System and the dwarf planet, Pluto.
Ice giants are planets that are mainly composed of elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. The ice giants of our Solar System are Uranus and Neptune. These planets are the seventh and eighth farthest from the Sun. The temperatures on them are extremely low due to both the distance from the Sun and their composition.
The first planet I’ll talk about is Uranus. Uranus was named after the Greek god of the sky. This planet is composed of water, methane, and ammonia fluids that exist above a rocky surface. Moreover, like Saturn and Jupiter, its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen and helium. The element behind the blue color of this planet is methane. This planet is about four times wider than Earth has 27 Moons.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus |
Furthermore, many of you may not know but Uranus also has rings. It has 13 rings that are narrow and dark. This planet has been only once seen close by humans when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by it (Read my blog about voyager 2 if you want to read about it in detail). Otherwise, no other spacecraft has orbited this planet. This planet is very unique in its style of orbit around the Sun because it orbits the Sun on its side which means that its rings can be seen vertical. Moreover, due to this kind of orbit, Uranus experiences weird seasons. In Winters, the planet’s north pole experiences 21 years of nighttime. In Summers, it experiences 21 years of daytime and in spring and fall, it experiences 42 years of nighttime.
The last and farthest planet that orbits the Sun is Neptune. Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea. It is a cold and dark planet, dominated by furious winds. This planet is also four times wider than Earth and orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.5 billion km.
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| https://www.space.com/41-neptune-the-other-blue-planet-in-our-solar-system.html |
This planet is composed of water, methane, and ammonia which exist above a small rocky core. Similar to Uranus, this planet also has an atmosphere mainly composed of hydrogen, helium, and methane. It has 14 moons named after sea gods of the Greek mythology. Moreover, like Uranus, it also has rings. It has a ring system comprising of five faint rings. These rings were formed due to the dust and debris formed by a nearby moon. Furthermore, this planet also hasn’t been orbited by any spacecraft. However, it was seen closely only once when Voyager 2 flew by it in 1989.
The next planet I’ll talk about is; let’s not call it a planet. Sadly, in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded Pluto from the status of a planet to a dwarf planet. This was done because Pluto lacked the characteristics of a planet. This planet is 2380 km wide. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.8 billion km in a region called the Kuiper belt.
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| https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/why-is-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/ |
It takes Pluto 248 Earth years to orbit around the Sun once. This is due to the vast distance of the planet from the Sun. This planet has a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. It has 5 moons of which the largest is Charon. Charon is so big that Pluto and Charon orbit each other. Unlike its neighboring fellas, Pluto has no rings. Till this time, only the New Horizon spacecraft has passed close to the planet Pluto. The surface temperature of Pluto is -228 to -238 degrees Celsius which would instantly freeze any human who lands on it.
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