Whats up with pluto?

Question

how come pluto is said to be very cold, but when you look at pictures of the planet, it looks like a big ball of fire?

Answer 1

is so cool its on fire lol no jk

Answer 2

Pluto is very cold because it is far away from the Sun.

Its color has nothing to do with its temperature.  

Answer 3

Color temperature is a simplified way to characterize the spectral properties of a light source. While in reality the color of light is determined by how much each point on the spectral curve contributes to its output, the result can still be summarized on a linear scale.

This value is useful eg. for determining the correct film in photography depending on the lighting (resp. for determining the white balance in digital photography), and for specifying the right light source types in architectural lighting design. Note, however, that light sources of the same color (metamers) can vary widely in the quality of light emitted. One may have a continuous spectrum, while the other just emits light in a few narrow bands of the spectrum. A useful way to determine the quality of a light source is its color rendering index.

Low color temperature implies warmer (more yellow/red) light while high color temperature implies a colder (more blue) light. Daylight has a rather low color temperature near dawn, and a higher one during the day. Therefore it can be useful to install an electrical lighting system that can supply cooler light to supplement daylight when needed, and fill in with warmer light at night. This also correlates with human feelings towards the warm colors of light coming from candles or an open fireplace at night.

Standard unit for color temperature is Kelvin (K).

(The kelvin unit is the basis of all temperature measurement, starting with 0 K (= -273.16° C) at the absolute zero temperature. The "size" of one kelvin is the same as that of one degree Celsius, and is defined as the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water, which positions 0° Celsius at 273.16 K.)

Technically, color temperature refers to the temperature to which one would have to heat a theoretical "black body" source to produce light of the same visual color.

I kinda' copy-pasted... but that's the explanation.

Answer 4

If my neighbour sometimes looks a bombshell but only when the door is closed and I can´t see her.

Read it carefully and you will find your answer.

Answer 5

  Pluto has been demoted.

Answer 6

Ball of fire? Are you retarded?

Answer 7

We really have no idea what Pluto looks like up close and we'll hopefully find out around 2015. But until then, you gotta remember that the pictures that look like its on fire are images taken from millions and millions of miles away from here on earth. Just as in the same way that one can look up at the sky from Earth at Venus and think that it is a star (which its not) and think its "on fire" fusing hydrogen into helium, which its not.

Answer 8

Pluto does not reflect much light.  That's because not much gets there, from the Sun.  It's 40 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, so it gets only 1/1600 times as much light and heat.  It's nearly 14th magnitude, which is near the limit of my 10 inch (254mm) telescope.  But when i looked at it, it looked like a point of light against a dark background.  But that's what 14th magnitude stars look like, which are balls of fire.

It's a matter of contrast.  When you see it with your eye in a telescope, your eyes have adjusted to the darkness.  The pupils get big, and even a small flashlight in the face actually hurts. When you see a picture of it, they make it bright enough for you to see.