A Planet Colder Than It Should Be

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Image: In this artistacutes concept Pluto and its moon Charon are seen from the surface of one of Plutoacutes newly discovered candidate satellites. Credit: David A. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics).
Image: In this artist's concept, Pluto and its moon Charon are seen from the surface of one of Pluto's newly discovered candidate satellites. Credit: David A. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics).

Mercury is boiling. Mars is freezing. The Earth is just right. When it comes to the temperatures of the planets, it makes sense that they should get colder the farther away they are from the Sun. But then there is Pluto. It has been suspected that this remote world might be even colder than it should be. Smithsonian scientists now have shown this to be true.


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