
Wow who knew but apparently the planet Pluto has some properties that resemble a comet. Here is an excerpt about this new discovery:
Pluto has a tail!
The path of New Horizons as it flew past Pluto on July 14 took it directly into the dwarf planet’s shadow, and while this provided a fascinating opportunity to see its atmosphere lit up by the Sun, it also allowed the spacecraft to see the effects of solar wind on Pluto.
What New Horizons found is that the atmosphere is being stripped away by the solar wind, creating a huge region of cold and dense ionized gas that extends tens of thousands of miles beyond Pluto. This essentially creates a “hole” or cavity in the surrounding solar wind, which was detected between 77,000 and 109,000 kilometers (48,000 and 68,000 miles) behind Pluto.
Let’s find out more and check out a cool video of Pluto on page 2
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