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Pluto has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit, ranging from 30 to 49 astronomical units (4.5 to 7.3 billion kilometres; 2.8 to 4.6 billion miles) from the Sun. Light from the Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its orbital distance of 39.5 AU (5.91 billion km; 3.67 billion mi).
Pluto's orbit around the Sun is unusual compared to the planets: it's both elliptical and tilted. Pluto's 248-year-long, oval-shaped orbit can take it as far as 49.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, and as close as 30 AU.
Pluto's orbit around the Sun is unusual compared to the planets: it's both elliptical and tilted. Pluto's 248-year-long, oval-shaped orbit can take it as far as 49.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, and as close as 30 AU.
Pluto is a dwarf planet located in a distant region of our solar system beyond Neptune known as the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was long considered our ninth planet, but the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Pluto Atmosphere Surface Pressure: ~13 microbar Surface temperature: 24 - 38 K (-247 - -233 C) Scale height: ~18 km lower atmosphere, ~50 km above 30 km Mean molecular weight: ~28 Atmospheric composition: 99% Nitrogen (N 2 ), 0.5% Methane (CH 4 ), 0.05% Carbon Monoxide (CO), trace HCN, C 2 H x hydrocarbons
Pluto orbits on the fringes of our solar system, billions of miles away. Sunlight is much weaker there than it is here on Earth, yet it isn't completely dark. In fact, for just a moment near dawn and dusk each day, the illumination on Earth matches that of high noon on Pluto.
Pluto’s mean distance from the Sun, about 5.9 billion km (3.7 billion miles or 39.5 astronomical units), gives it an orbit larger than that of the outermost planet, Neptune. (One astronomical unit [AU] is the average distance from Earth to the Sun—about 150 million km [93 million miles].)
The dwarf planet actually gets closer to the sun than Neptune is for 20 years out of Pluto's 248-Earth-years-long orbit, providing astronomers a rare chance to study this small, cold,...
Pluto is lucky to exist in the orbit that it does, according to new computer simulations that show how the dwarf planet skirts near a chaotic orbit that could potentially destroy the beloved...
A drawing of the solar system shows Pluto’s tilted orbit. Pluto’s orbital path angles 17 degrees above the line, or plane, where the eight planets orbit.