Categories: Astronomy

Pluto Fact Sheet

Pluto's temperature makes it one of the coldest places in the Solar System.

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.

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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.

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.