Dwarf Planet Pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was discovered in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and was considered the ninth planet in the solar system until it was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Pluto has a diameter of approximately 2,377 kilometers and a mass of 1.31 x 10^22 kilograms. Pluto has a highly elliptical orbit, with a period of 248 Earth years, and its orbit is tilted relative to the plane of the solar system. Pluto has five known moons, the largest of which is Charon, which is about half the size of Pluto itself. Pluto's surface is covered in nitrogen and methane ices, as well as frozen carbon monoxide and methane. The New Horizons spacecraft, which flew past Pluto in 2015, revealed a complex and diverse world with mountains, valleys, glaciers, and hazy skies. Pluto's atmosphere is thin and composed mainly of nitrogen, with traces of methane and carbon monoxide.

Dwarf Planet Pluto is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Dwarf Planet Pluto is 20h 01m 02s and the Declination is -23° 19’ 10” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current magnitude of Dwarf Planet Pluto is 14.46 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Dwarf Planet Pluto from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Dwarf Planet Pluto?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Dwarf Planet Pluto from Earth?)
• When does Dwarf Planet Pluto rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Dwarf Planet Pluto?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Dwarf Planet Pluto orbital parameters.
• Physical data. Detailed information about physical properties of Dwarf Planet Pluto, such as mass and geometric properties.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Dwarf Planet Pluto for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Dwarf Planet Pluto in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Dwarf Planet Pluto with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Dwarf Planet Pluto is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Dwarf Planet Pluto?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Dwarf Planet Pluto in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Dwarf Planet Pluto Distance from Earth

The distance of Dwarf Planet Pluto from Earth is currently 5,152,855,094 kilometers, equivalent to 34.444709 Astronomical Units. Light takes 4 hours, 46 minutes and 28.0745 seconds to travel from Dwarf Planet Pluto and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Dwarf Planet Pluto from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Pluto from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Dwarf Planet Pluto to Earth

Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Dwarf Planet Pluto to Earth happens on Sat May 12 2238 at a distance of 28.676624 Astronomical Units, or 4,289,961,948 kilometers:

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Dwarf Planet Pluto Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Dwarf Planet Pluto, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Dwarf Planet Pluto 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Dwarf Planet Pluto computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Dwarf Planet Pluto in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Sep 20	20h 01m 18s	-23° 18’ 20”	14.45	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 21	20h 01m 15s	-23° 18’ 28”	14.45	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 22	20h 01m 13s	-23° 18’ 34”	14.45	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 23	20h 01m 10s	-23° 18’ 42”	14.45	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 24	20h 01m 09s	-23° 18’ 48”	14.45	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 25	20h 01m 06s	-23° 18’ 55”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 26	20h 01m 05s	-23° 19’ 00”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 27	20h 01m 04s	-23° 19’ 06”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 28	20h 01m 01s	-23° 19’ 12”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 29	20h 01m 00s	-23° 19’ 17”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Sep 30	20h 00m 59s	-23° 19’ 21”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Oct 01	20h 00m 57s	-23° 19’ 26”	14.46	Sagittarius
2023 Oct 02	20h 00m 56s	-23° 19’ 28”	14.47	Sagittarius
2023 Oct 03	20h 00m 56s	-23° 19’ 32”	14.47	Sagittarius