International holidays - Pluto Day

February 18 is Pluto Day, which became known to humanity relatively recently, but immediately attracted mass attention It is believed that the discoverer of this amazing cosmic body was the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh By the way, the wonderful scientist lived for 90 years and bequeathed his ashes to be scattered in space as close as possible to the celestial body he discovered This was done NASA's New Horizons space station is the only station sent from Earth to explore Pluto It has been in space since 2006 and has traveled an impressive distance of 3 billion km, approaching Pluto in order to study it On board are the ashes of the great astronomer But to be as objective as possible, before the American astrophysicist, other scientists, using mathematical calculations, came to the conclusion that there was a celestial body located in the solar system So, in 1905, Percival Lovell, another American astronomer, carried out mathematical calculations and declared that there was a certain “Planet X” However, the official discovery took place on February 18, 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh Pluto attracts people's attention with its mystery and impressive characteristics Yes, it cannot be considered as a possible place for the resettlement of humanity, but it was precisely with its harsh conditions that it aroused interest Its average temperature is -230 degrees, and a year is equal to 2248 Earth years! True, there are reserves of water on the surface, since the number of glaciers is three times greater in volume than on Earth The object itself is very small, it is 6 times smaller than the Moon This played a cruel joke on Pluto, which in 2006 was excluded from the list of ordinary planets It is now believed to be only a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt The celestial body rotates in an amazing orbit, which sometimes makes it move billions of kilometers away from the sun, and then approach the sun so close that huge glaciers on the surface begin to melt Science fiction writers and people of art also fell in love with this amazing creation of the cosmos, which also fuels public interest The holiday of February 18 is celebrated not only by professional astronomers, astrophysicists, mathematicians, but also by all lovers of exploring outer space Traditionally, more programs appear in the program thread that talk about space as a whole, the solar system, and related issues related to the fact that sooner or later humanity will have to leave the Earth and look for a place to establish new colonies of settlers are also touched upon Some people are skeptical about this idea, while others are quite serious, but one way or another the topic generates heated discussions On this day, it is customary to remember the scientists themselves, who made a lot of effort to discover Pluto and other celestial bodies, giving humanity invaluable knowledge The discoverer himself, Clyde Tombaugh, lived a long and happy life He was born in 1906 and died in 1997 His achievements were recognized throughout the world It is interesting that at the time of the discovery the scientist was 24 years old; he did not manage to graduate from university, but was actively working at the observatory He lived his life happily with his only wife, he had two children, five grandchildren The discoverer also managed to nurse numerous great-grandchildren