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Pluto
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Success
of Adams and Le Verrier at predicting Neptune's existence led people to
examine Neptune's orbit for problems
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problems
with the orbit of what planet led to the discovery of Neptune?
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Uranus
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William
Pickering and Percival Lowell predicted position of "planet X"
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They
were wrong
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Pluto
too small to detect using their data
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What
imagined geographic feature on Mars did Percival Lowell help "observe"
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However,
Clyde Tombaugh did find Pluto at Lowell observatory in 1930
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Pluto's
orbit eccentric compared to other planets
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sometimes
even inside of Neptune
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Retrograde
rotation
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what
other planets have retrograde rotation
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Venus,
Uranus
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Pluto
has a moon that is almost as big as it is
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Charon
rotates synchronously
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Pluto
rotates once per Charon's orbit
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Staring
at each other
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What
causes synchronous rotation?
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Our
view of Pluto with Hubble Space telescope is like Lowell's view of Mars
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Pluto
probably has Nitrogen polar ice caps
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Similar
in size, density to Triton
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recall
Triton was probably captured by Neptune
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Pluto
got away
Two
hemispheres of Pluto
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