Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
Students follow Pluto from its 1930 discovery and 2006 reclassification to the New Horizons flyby, then explore the Kuiper Belt, Arrokoth and the distant Oort Cloud.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops9 stops
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What students will see and do
Students begin on Earth with Clyde Tombaugh's search, visit Neptune to see how Pluto's orbit crosses it, spend four stops at Pluto and Charon exploring New Horizons discoveries, and finish with two wide views of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. The class pauses at the Earth stop to discuss how moving dots reveal solar system objects and at the Neptune stop to reason about orbital resonance.
Learning objectives
- Explain how Clyde Tombaugh used photographs taken days apart to discover Pluto
- List the three rules a planet must meet and explain why Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet
- Use evidence such as missing craters and flowing glaciers to argue that Pluto's surface is still changing
- Describe the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud and compare their distances with the planets
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-3 | Students analyze scale properties of Pluto, Charon, Arrokoth and the Kuiper Belt, including size, distance, orbital period, light travel time and temperature. |
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Stops on this journey
- The Search for Planet X (discussion stop)
- Crossing Paths with Neptune (discussion stop)
- Planet or Dwarf Planet?
- The Long Journey of New Horizons
- Pluto's Frozen Heart
- Mountains, Haze and Blue Skies
- Charon, the Partner Moon
- The Kuiper Belt
- Out to the Oort Cloud
Vocabulary
- dwarf planet
- Kuiper Belt
- Oort Cloud
- orbital resonance
- nitrogen ice
- glacier
- barycenter
- flyby