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How much AU is Pluto?
On average, Pluto is a distance of 39.5 astronomical units, or AU, from the sun. That is almost 40 times farther from the sun than Earth is. Because of its elliptical orbit, Pluto is not the same distance from the sun all the time. Pluto’s closest point to the sun is 29.7 AU.
How many Aus is Earth from Pluto?
Distance From Earth to Pluto The Earth is only 1 AU from the Sun. When the Earth and Pluto are perfectly lined up with the Sun, their closest point is approximately 28 astronomical units. And at their furthest point, when Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun, Pluto can be 50 astronomical units.
How many AU is Neptune from Pluto?
2.4 AU
The closest distance between the two orbits is 2.4 AU. If we could reach out magically and move Pluto and Neptune to any point in their orbits, the closest they could ever get is 2.4 AU. However, this minimum distance can never occur.
How far away is Pluto from the Sun in AU?
From an average distance of 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers), Pluto is 39 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 5.5 hours to travel from the Sun to Pluto.
What are the orbital elements of Pluto?
Pluto Mean Orbital Elements (J2000) Semimajor axis (AU) 39.48168677 Orbital eccentricity 0.24880766 Orbital inclination (deg) 17.14175 Longitude of ascending node (deg) 110.30347 Longitude of perihelion (deg) 224.06676 Mean longitude (deg) 238.92881 Positive Pole of Rotation
How long is one year on Pluto?
Pluto is only 2,370 kilometers (1,473 miles) wide. That is about half the width of the United States and smaller than Earth’s moon. Pluto takes 248 Earth years to make one revolution around the sun. That means one year on Pluto is about 248 Earth years.
How did Pluto get its name?
Clyde Tombaugh, a U.S. astronomer, discovered Pluto in 1930. That same year, Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old girl from England, suggested it be named “Pluto” after the Roman god of the dead. Pluto is a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet is round and orbits the sun just like the eight major planets of the solar system.