FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2026-025

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (February 18, 2026) – This issue of Fun with Maps looks at a famous cartoon character, nope, scratch that. Planet?

THE DWARF PLANET/NOT PLANET

Pluto, then declared to be the ninth planet, was discovered on February 18, 1930 at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Pluto is 4 billion miles from the sun and takes 248 years to make one orbit.  At its closest point to the sun, it actually crosses through Neptune’s orbital path.

In August 2006, Pluto’s status as a planet was revoked due to the definition of a planet being revised by the International Astronomical Union.  Each planet must have a continuous orbit clear of its neighbors and Pluto’s intersection with Neptune disqualified it (in basketball, it would be like walking).

Pluto’s small size, odd orbit pattern, and composition of rock and ice is very similar to other objects that have been observed in the second asteroid belt of our solar system where Pluto is located – the Kuiper Belt.

These charts of the Solar System, without Pluto, is by Chiquet from 1770. 

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.