Origin/History

Travel back in time for Pluto’s history.

Pluto got it’s name from an 11 year old girl named “Venetia Burney” from Oxford, England. She suggested to her grandfather it should be named after the Greek God of the Underworld “Pluto.”

Pluto has many nick-names, here are just a few. “The dwarf planet” ever since it was devoted to the dwarf planet group in August 2006. “Double planet system” because Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is half the size of Pluto and they look alike.

The word Pluto start’s with PL, which are the initials of Percival Lowell. Percival Lowell was the first one to discover hint’s of Pluto’s existence in 1905. Using Lowell's notes after he died (November 12, 1969), Clyde Tombaugh officially discovered Pluto in 1930 in Lowell's observatory. Can you believe Percival Lowell died without even knowing if Pluto actually existed?