Did you know?

This month Pluto…. Once our ninth planet Pluto was demoted to “dwarf planet’ in 2006. However, with the New Horizons mission enigmatic Pluto, once shrouded in mystery, is giving up its secrets. The image below is Pluto photographed by the LORRI and Ralph instruments aboard the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.

After Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto astronomers rushed to their telescopes to see if they had also sighted the planet. More than a dozen images of Pluto from before the 1930 discovery have been found, but no one realised what they had seen!

Some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh were flown onboard the New Horizons space probe that went to Pluto and beyond.

When Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet, it received a new official name - “134340 Pluto.” Other dwarf planets have now been identified.

Walt Disney named Pluto, Mickey Mouse’s dog, after the planet, not the other way round!