The Size of Pluto

Have you ever wondered how big Pluto is compared to the Earth or even to other planets in the solar system? Pluto is known as a dwarf planet, which means it's a lot smaller than planets like Earth, Mars, or Jupiter. To give you an idea of just how small Pluto is, let's do a size comparison.

• Pluto has a diameter of about 1,473 miles (2,372 kilometers). That's about 18% of Earth's diameter!
• If you were to stack Plutos on top of each other, it would take about nine Plutos to reach the same height as the Earth.
• Pluto is only about two-thirds the size of Earth's moon.
• Compared to the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, Pluto is tiny. Jupiter has a diameter of about 86,881 miles (139,822 kilometers), which is nearly 59 times larger than Pluto! It's hard to imagine how small Pluto is compared to these other celestial bodies, isn't it? But despite its size, Pluto has a lot of unique and interesting features that make it an important part of our solar system.

Pluto's Orbit and Distance from the Sun

Not only is Pluto smaller than most planets, but it's also located much farther away from the Sun. Pluto's orbit ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. An astronomical unit is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

• At its closest, Pluto is 30 AU from the Sun. That's 30 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun!
• At its farthest, Pluto is 49 AU from the Sun. That's nearly 50 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun! Because of this distance, light from the Sun takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pluto. This is much longer than the 8.3 minutes it takes for sunlight to reach Earth.

The Composition of Pluto

Pluto may be small, but it's made of some pretty interesting stuff. Like other objects in the Kuiper belt, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock.

• About two-thirds of Pluto's mass is made of rock, while the rest is ice.
• The surface of Pluto is covered with ice made of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide.
• Underneath the icy surface, scientists believe that Pluto may have a rocky core. Even though Pluto is much smaller and farther away than the planets in our solar system, it's still a fascinating world that scientists are eager to learn more about. Despite its size, Pluto holds a big place in our understanding of the universe!