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| Quick Facts
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Distance to Sun: 5.899 billion km (3.666 billion miles)
Distance to Sun in Astronomical Units : 39.5
Average Surface Temperature : -230 degrees C (-446 degrees F)
Lenth of year : 247.69 Earth years
Length of Day : 6.3867 Earth days
Orbit Eccentricity : 0.25
Orbit Inclination : 17.2 degrees
Mass : 0.0026 Earths
Diameter : 2299.75 km (1,429 miles)
Gravity : .05 Earth or 1.27 x 10^22 kg
Tilt of Axis : 94 degrees
Year Discovered : 1930
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| About Pluto
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Most of the time, Pluto is the farthest planet from the Sun. It's the last stop in the solar system before interstellar Space. In Roman mythology, Pluto (Greek: Hades) is the god of the underworld. The planet received this name perhaps because it's so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 when calculations predicted a planet beyond Neptune, based on the motions of Uranus and Neptune. Not knowing of the calculations,
Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Arizona did a very careful sky survey which turned up Pluto anyway.
Pluto is so small and unlike a planet that there are some who think it should be better classified as a large asteroid or comet. Some consider it to be the largest of the Oort/Cloud/Kuiper Belt objects. Historically Pluto has been classified as a planet and it is likely to remain so.
Pluto's orbit is highly eccentric. From January 1979 thru February 11 1999, it is closer to the Sun than Neptune. Also, Pluto rotates in the opposite direction from most of the other planets.
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