Rainbow-coloured Pluto: Look at the picture!

The NASAthe US space agency, published in recent days a picture Colored Pluto In rainbow colors, this is a dwarf planet that is part of the solar system. The goal is to show the complexity of the surface planet.

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The images released by the space agency were taken by scientists from Operation New Horizons, which was launched in January 2006 to study Pluto, its moons and other Kuiper Belt alien objects.

The New Horizons spacecraft flew over the dwarf planet’s surface for six months in 2015. However, so far, the spacecraft continues to explore this remote part of the solar system.

NASA’s idea of ​​publishing pictures in psychedelic colors, referring to the rainbow, is to show different regions of the planet. The subtle differences between the colors are made up of the distinct regions of Pluto.

Pluto colored by NASA

By posting a picture of Pluto on a social network, the agency describes the complexity of the planet’s surface and says it consists of mountains similar to Europe, with many valleys and carved craters that share space with icy plains and sand dunes formed by movement. from the wind.

For NASA, the main idea when coloring the planet’s record is to show the complexity of studying and learning about Pluto, because its surface has subtle differences.

Why is Pluto no longer a planet?

Many of us learned in school that the solar system consists of 9 planets. However, in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to the category of dwarf planet.

For the agency, a planet must meet three criteria to be classified as a normal planet. They are: they revolve around the sun, they have enough mass to maintain their balance and being the main celestial body around it, known by scientists as a gravitational dominant.

In the case of Pluto, there is no last property, that is, there are other bodies of the same size around it. Hence, it is not a dominant orb. Thus, due to the lack of this feature, the International Astronomical Union classifies the planet as a dwarf.