Dwarf planet

Pluto

A dwarf planet of nitrogen ice and mountains of water ice, seen by New Horizons in 2015. The part of it never seen up close is an artist's impression.

Measured

Mean radius
1,188 km
From the Earth today
36 AU (5.38 billion km)

How far, from the Earth

36 AU. To cross it:

  • Light4 hours 59 minutes
  • Voyager 1's speed10.1 years
  • Driving at 100 km/h6,140 years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Spacecraft that went there

  • New Horizons — Flew past on 14 July 2015 — the first to visit.

Moons (5 in Ouranos)

CharonStyxNixKerberosHydra

Where this comes from

  • Planets, Pluto, the Moon and Jupiter's big moons: astronomy-engine (Don Cross, MIT). Other moons: JPL Planetary Satellite Mean Elements. Ceres, Eris, Haumea, Makemake: JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.