Pluto (Dwarf Planet)

Kuiper Belt dwarf planet reclassified in 2006, with a heart-shaped nitrogen glacier and five known moons.

Core Principles & Analysis

• NASA's New Horizons flyby in July 2015 revealed the nitrogen-ice glacier Sputnik Planitia flanked by mountains of water ice.
• Its moon Charon is about half Pluto's diameter, and the two are mutually tidally locked around a barycenter outside Pluto itself.
• Pluto's eccentric orbit carries it inside Neptune's orbit for 20 years of each 248-year circuit, most recently from 1979 to 1999.

Specifications & Metrics

• DISTANCE FROM SUN: 39.48 AU
• DIAMETER: 2,377 km
• MOONS: 5 (Charon)
• ORBITAL PERIOD: 248 years