In this series of articles titled “All About the Planets,” you will learn about the current planets in the Solar System, as well as the planet formally known as Pluto. The first two planets of discussion is Pluto and Saturn.
Saturn
In regards to astronomy-related mythology, Saturn served as the god of agriculture and was known as Cronus by the Greeks. He was the son of Uranus and was father to Jupiter. It was Saturn who took over his father’s position as the king of gods only to lose this position to his own son , Jupiter.
Often, Saturn is one of the most favorite of all planets for some. Its alluring rings have been the subject of numerous conversations. In space, the rings measure 169,800 miles wide, but are actually possess a thickness less than a football field. In numerous ways, Saturn is quite similar to Jupiter, although it is much smaller in size. Beneath the clouds of methane and helium, the sky interestingly transforms into liquid. Eventually, the further it goes , the more the substances seem like an ocean filled with liquefied chemicals.
A fact concerning the planet involves the size of Saturn, as it is larger than Earth. Because of this, you would weigh more on Saturn than you do on Earth. Additionally, you should know that Saturn possesses several hundred rings, but note that this is not the only planet to display rings. Neptune, Jupiter, and Uranus all highlight this interesting feature.
Pluto
In astronomy-related mythology, Pluto was seen as the god that all men must eventually travel to in the end of their lives. Romans viewed the god as keeper of the underworld. In Greece, he was called Hades. Since Pluto is so small in size, visitors would become extremely light if they were to take a trip to the now-dwarf planet. Pluto is quite small, as it is less in size of seven of the moons located in the Solar System. Its size has been a subject of a lot of controversy throughout time, as the majority of scientists fail to recognize Pluto as a planet at all.
In 1999, a collection of scientists got together in order to redesignate Pluto. On August 24th, 2006, Pluto entered the official status of being called a dwarf planet instead of its former title of planet. For many years, schoolchildren had been educated that there was nine planets in the Solar System, which now means a huge amount of people must erase this fact from their memory. To date, a spacecraft has never visited Pluto. Since no probes have reached the planet, astronomers know very little on its appearance and inner-workings.
Pluto has three moons attached to its existence. The largest of the three is called Charon, which is only a bit smaller than the planet it is connected to. This is why some texts will refer to Pluto and Charon as a “double system.” This is not an uncommon designation, as the Earth and its moon called Luna also share the same reference at times. The most detailed information regarding Pluto comes from the Hubble Space Telescope, which furnished a comprehensive look at the planet, but other than that , there is not much to go on.
