This is a drawing of how a comet interacts with the environment of interplanetary space.
Click on image for full size
JPL

A Look at Pluto's possible Magnetosphere

No one knows whether or not Pluto has a magnetosphere. Scientists were very surprised to find that Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede had a magnetosphere because it is hard to explain how an icy body can develop a magnetic field. Nevertheless, Pluto may well have a magnetic field, as a result of its dual orbit with its moon Charon.

On the other hand, Pluto may have a reaction with the field found between planets that is similar to that of a comet, as illustrated in this diagram. Only exploration of this unique system will give us the answer.


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The Earth Scientist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3, Fall 2010

This very special issue of The Earth Scientist is sponsored by the Mineral Information Institute (MII) and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Foundation and is designed to provide a variety of resources to teachers and students to learn more about minerals and mining....more

Pluto

Pluto is a frigid ball of ice and rock that orbits far from the Sun on the frozen fringes of our Solar System. Considered a planet, though a rather odd one, from its discovery in 1930 until 2006, it was...more

Pluto & Charon, a double planet

Of all the planets and moons in the solar system, Pluto and Charon are the two which resemble each other the most closely. They are almost the same size, and they are very close together. They are so...more

Questions to answer about Pluto

Pluto is so far away, and has never been explored. Questions to answer about Pluto include the following: What are the geologic features of the surface. (pictures of the surface) If there are bare spots,...more

A Look at Pluto's Atmosphere

It may seem hard to believe that Pluto could have an atmosphere because it is so cold at 39 AU, where Pluto is found, but it does. Because there are times when Pluto is closer to the sun than is Neptune...more

A Look at Pluto's possible Magnetosphere

No one knows whether or not Pluto has a magnetosphere. Scientists were very surprised to find that Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede had a magnetosphere because it is hard to explain how an icy body can develop...more

The Moons of Pluto

Pluto has // Call the moon count function defined in the document head print_moon_count('pluto'); moons. One of the moons is very large. The large moon is named Charon. The other two moons are fairly small....more

Pluto's Interior

The diagram to the left shows a cutaway of the possible interior structure of Pluto. The composition of Pluto is mostly ice, therefore there is probably a small core of some rocky material buried inside,...more

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