Pluto – Common Misconceptions

Pluto, Reimagined – Image Source

Pluto has long been a very mysterious planets to both scientists and the general population. Because of this, many misconceptions have risen throughout the years. In this blog post, I will cover a few of the most popular myths, both scientific and fun.

1. Pluto was named after the Disney Dog (hence the photo attached)
   • Pluto was discovered in 1930, the same year the famous dog was introduced on Disney. This caused much confusion whether the dog was named after the planet or whether the planet was named after the dog. However, the dog’s name was actually changed to Pluto in 1931, following the discovery of the planet.
2. Pluto is always dark
   • This has been a common misconception for a long time, due to Pluto’s distance from the sun. It orbits more than 3 billion miles away from the sun, on average. Consequently, people assume that it is constantly dark on the planet. However, although is not as bright as the Earth on a sunny day, it still has as much sun as a gloomy day on Earth.
3. Pluto is completely made of ice
   • This misconception came from the fact that Pluto’s surface is covered by ice. It is comprised of frozen nitrogen and methane. However, the density of Pluto is more than double the density of an “ice planet”. This has let us to debunk the myth that Pluto is an ice planet, as its composition leads us to believe that Pluto has a rocky inside with an icy shell.