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*minor-planet designation* –>
134340 Pluto
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-‘pluto’ is a ‘dwarf planet’ in the ‘kuiper belt’, a ring of bodies beyond ‘neptune’-
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The distance between Earth and Pluto is not fixed, as both planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths, causing their separation to constantly change.
At its closest, Pluto is about 2.6 billion miles (4.3 billion km) away,
while at its most distant, it can be as far as 4.6 billion miles (7.5 billion km) from Earth. [1, 2]
Why the distance varies
Elliptical Orbits:
Earth and Pluto travel in oval-shaped orbits around the Sun, rather than perfect circles. [1, 2]
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Relative Positions:
Their positions relative to the Sun change constantly, sometimes placing them on the same side and other times on opposite sides of the Sun, which affects the distance between them. [2, 3]
Key distances [1, 2]
Closest approach: Approximately 2.6 billion miles (4.3 billion km).
Farthest distance: Up to 4.6 billion miles (7.5 billion km).
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://www.space.com/18566-pluto-distance.html[2] https://www.quora.com/How-far-is-Pluto-from-Earth-in-light-years[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WUPanOJnfQ
Not all images can be exported from Search.
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(it was the first ‘kuiper belt object’ to be discovered)
Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun.
After 1992, its status as a planet was questioned following the discovery of several objects of similar size in the Kuiper belt.
In 2005, Eris, a dwarf planet in the scattered disc which is 27% more massive than Pluto, was discovered.
This led the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term “planet”formally in 2006, during their 26th General Assembly.
That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet.
Pluto is the largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object directly orbiting the Sun.
It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume but is less massive than Eris.
Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock and is relatively small—about one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third its volume.
It has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit during which it ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units or AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun.
This means that Pluto periodically comes closer to the Sun than Neptune, but a stable orbital resonance with Neptune prevents them from colliding.
Light from the Sun takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its average distance (39.5 AU).
Pluto has five known moons: Charon (the largest, with a diameter just over half that of Pluto), Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra.
Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a binary system because the barycenter of their orbits does not lie within either body.
On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto.
During its brief flyby, New Horizons made detailed measurements and observations of Pluto and its moons.
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(in ‘september 2016’, astronomers announced that the reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules that may be ingredients for the emergence of life, and produced from methane, nitrogen and other gases released from the atmosphere of ‘pluto’ and transferred about 19,000 km (12,000 mi) to the orbiting ‘moon’)
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