This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 7 badges
117 pts · Anomaly
Anomaly120 pts → Mythic
Pluto, the demoted planet+36
Giant body (>500 km)+22
Subsurface ocean+18
Dwarf planet+16
Trans-Neptunian object+12
Has a proper name+8
Has moons+5
Total score117
3 more points to reach Mythic.
Badges
⚪Dwarf planet· +16
🏔️Giant body (>500 km)· +22
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🌙Has moons· +5
💧Subsurface ocean· +18
🌨️Trans-Neptunian object· +12
💔Pluto, the demoted planet· +36
✨ Trivia
Hard to believe
🥇Round under its own weight. Big enough that its own gravity has pulled it into a sphere — most of its neighbours are potato-shaped rubble.
What it actually is
🛸Its orbit family. A trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper Belt, out where the Sun is little more than the brightest star in a very dark sky.
🌞Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 29.66 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Neptune.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 248 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 29.66 and 49.31 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 68% as wide as our Moon.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 6.1 months.
🌍Against Earth. It is only 19% of Earth's width — you could pack about 154 of it inside our planet.
Properties
aphelion au
49.3064
color
#c8a98a
diameter km
2376
eccentricity
0.2488
inclination
17.16
name
Pluto
named
yes
num moons
5
orbit class
TNO
orbital period days
90560
perihelion au
29.6578
radius km
1188
semi major au
39.4821
subsurface ocean
yes
About Pluto
Pluto is an anomaly dwarf planet. It completes an orbit every 90,560 days and swings within 29.658 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper Belt, out where the Sun is little more than the brightest star in a very dark sky.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Pluto is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why Pluto is an anomaly dwarf planet
Pluto scores 117 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the anomaly tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 7 science badges — Dwarf planet, Giant body (>500 km), Has a proper name, Has moons, Subsurface ocean, Trans-Neptunian object and Pluto, the demoted planet — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.
📷 Real photo