Planet
Pluto
Dwarf planet
The heart of the Kuiper Belt
Reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, Pluto is a world of nitrogen-ice plains, water-ice mountains and a thin hazy atmosphere. New Horizons revealed its heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio in 2015.
Key facts
Distance
39.5 AU from the Sun (mean)
Diameter
2,377 km
Orbital period
248 years
Day length
6.4 Earth days
Moons
5
Did you know
- Its moon Charon is so large the pair orbit a point in space between them.
- Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930.
- Sunlight takes about 5.5 hours to reach it.
