Distance to Pluto

Pluto has the most elliptical orbit of all the planets and dwarf planets. In addition to this widely varying orbital distance, Pluto is also highly inclined, orbiting above and below the planet of the ecliptic that the rest of the planets follow.

You can also look through these books from Amazon.com if you want more information about Pluto.

Pluto Distance from the Sun
Since Pluto orbits the Sun, like the rest of the planets and dwarf planets, astronomers typically measure the distance of Pluto in terms of Astronomical Units (AU). 1 AU measures the distance of the Earth to the Sun.

At its closest point, Pluto is only 29 astronomical units from the Sun (4.4 billion km or 2.75 billion miles). And at its most distant, it can be 49 AU (7.29 billion km, or 4.53 billion miles) from the Sun. In addition to being highly elliptical however, Pluto’s orbit is also inclined at an angle of over 17-degrees. At some points along its orbit, Pluto is above the plane of the ecliptic that the planets follow, and at other times, it’s below.

Pluto’s average distance from the Sun is 40 astronomical units (5.91 billion km or 3.67 billion miles).

Distance From Earth to Pluto
The Earth is only 1 AU from the Sun. When the Earth and Pluto are perfectly lined up with the Sun, their closest point is approximately 28 astronomical units. And at their furthest point, when Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun, Pluto can be 50 astronomical units.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

There’s a Way to Make Ringworlds and Dyson Spheres Stable

The idea of Dyson Sphere’s has been around for decades. When Freeman Dyson explored the…

13 hours ago

Water Arrived in the Final Stages of Earth's Formation

Roughly 4.6 billion years ago, the Sun was born from the gas and dust of…

20 hours ago

An Amazing JWST Image of a Protostar

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been giving us a fabulous new view on…

23 hours ago

There Could Be a Supermassive Black Hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud Hurling Stars at the Milky Way

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) were first theorized to exist in the late 1980s. In 2005, the…

1 day ago

Uranus’ Moon Ariel has Deep Gashes, Could Reveal its Interior

We've only gotten one close-up view of Uranus and its moons, and it happened decades…

1 day ago

A Recent Impact on Mars Shook the Planet to Its Mantle

New research suggests an impact recently rattled Mars deeper than thought. HiRISE images a recent…

1 day ago