Pluto Fact Sheet

The following Pluto fact sheet is based on NASA’s excellent planetary fact sheets. Pluto is no longer a planet, but a dwarf planet.

Mass: 0.0125 x 10²⁴ kg
Volume: 0.715 x 10¹⁰ km³
Average radius: 1,195 km
Average diameter: 2,390 km
Mean density: 1.750 g/cm³
Escape velocity: 1.2 km/s
Surface gravity: 0.58 m/s²
Natural satellites: 3
Rings? – No
Semimajor axis: 5,906,380,000 km
Orbit period: 90,465 days
Perihelion: 4,436,820,000 km
Aphelion: 7,375,930,000 km
Mean orbital velocity: 4.72 km/s
Orbit inclination: 17.16°
Orbit eccentricity: 0.2488
Sidereal rotation period: 153.2928 hours
Length of day: 153.2820 hours
Axial tilt: 122.53°
Discovery: 18 February 1930
Minimum distance from Earth: 4,284,700,000 km
Maximum distance from Earth: 7,528,000,000 km
Maximum apparent diameter from Earth: 0.11 arc seconds
Minimum apparent diameter from Earth: 0.06 arc seconds
Maximum visual magnitude: 13.65

We’ve written many articles about Pluto for Universe Today. Here’s an article about why Pluto isn’t a planet any more, and here’s an article about the distance to Pluto.

If you’d like more info on Pluto, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Pluto, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide to Pluto.

We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast just about Pluto. Listen here, Episode 64: Pluto.