Pluto, furthest planet from the Sun and by far the smallest. Named after the god of the Underworld in Greek and Roman mythology. Discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona. Pluto is the only planet not to have been visited by a spacecraft from Earth; even the Hubble Space Telescope can resolve only the largest features on its surface. Pluto’s orbit is the most eccentric and does not lie in the same plane as the others. Is it a true planet at all or just a large asteroid? Pluto’s only moon, Charon (named after the boatman who ferried the dead across the River Styx to the Underworld) was discovered in 1978 by Jim Christy.

For information about the real Pluto go to Bill Arnott’s nine planet site: http://nineplanets.org/pluto.html