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Pluto

Distance from Sun: 3,666,000,000 miles

Diameter: 1,423 miles or about 1/5 the diameter of the Earth

Number of moons: 1

Length of a year: 90,800 Earth days (about 249 Earth years)

Temperature: ~-365°F

Pluto is a ball of frozen gas, possibly with a rocky core. This drawing shows what the surface may be like.

Pluto is usually the farthest planet from the Sun and is the smallest planet in the solar system. From 1979 through 1999, the orbit of Pluto came within the orbit of Neptune, so that Neptune was the outermost planet. Pluto is so far from the Sun that the gases that make up the planet are frozen. Pluto is actually a double planet, because its moon, Charon, is almost as big as Pluto.

The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The Regents of the University of Michigan; ©2000-04 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer