Pluto
The dwarf planet of the Kuiper belt.
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt and the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume. It is made of ice and rock and has about a sixth of the Moon's mass. It was considered a planet until astronomers adopted a new definition.
Its orbit ranges from 30 to 49 AU from the Sun. It has five known moons, the largest being Charon. Clyde Tombaugh discovered it in 1930, and New Horizons flew past it on 14 July 2015.
Quick Facts
- Discoverer
- Clyde W. Tombaugh
- Discovered
- February 18, 1930
- Discovery site
- Lowell Observatory
- Synodic period
- 366.73 days
- Average speed
- 4.743 km/s
- Satellites
- 5
- Mean radius
- 0.1868 Earths
- Surface gravity
- 0.620 m/s2
More in Celestial Bodies & Worlds
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