Pluto and Charon. Artist's impression of the planet Pluto and its moon,Charon. At 2280km wide,Pluto (pink,right) is the smallest of the nine planets of the solar system. Its surface is covered in methane ice,and may be similar in many respects to Neptune's moon Triton. Pluto's moon,Charon (blue),is covered mainly by water ice. Pluto's orbit is very eccentric,varying between 4.4 billion and 7.3 billion km; for 20 years of its 248-year orbit Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by C.Tombaugh,and Charon in 1978 by J.Christy. As yet,no spacecraft have visited these remote worlds,so surface details are speculative | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library |
Taille de l’image : | 4390 px × 3156 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : | - |