It Took Pluto Nearly 250 Years to Finally Orbit the Sun — Here’s Why

The main dishes to remember how long it takes to orbit the sun

• Since Pluto is located so far from the sun, it takes about 248 years of earth for Pluto to orbit the sun.

• Pluto’s orbit around the sun is not only a very long journey, it is also elliptical, resembling a Smooshed circle while it moves in space.

• Pluto is 39 times further from the sun compared to the earth, which means that it is freezing and unlikely to be housed.

Pluto is the most distant planet, or rather the dwarf planet, far from the sun. It was renowned A dwarf planet in 2006 by the international astronomical union because of its size and that other planets can cross its orbit.

But whether or not it is considered a planet does not change our fascination for this celestial body. It is 39 times further from the sun compared to the earth, which means that it is freezing and unlikely to be housed. And thanks to its place in the solar system, until recently, we knew little about it.

Fortunately, also in 2006, the New horizons The spaceship was launched and entered orbit, changing forever what we know of Pluto. From there, we were able to see Pluto closely and staff, including its surface marked by mountains – blocks of ice covered with methane – as well as valleys, plains and craters.

How long does Pluto’s orbit last?

We know that it is extended, but how long does it really need Pluto to orbit the sun? According to David WeigelDirector of the Planetarium at US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama: long. Since Pluto is located so far from the sun, it takes about 248 years of earth for Pluto to orbit the sun. And that does not do so in a circular way.

“Pluto is located between 30 and 49 astronomical units of the sun,” explains Weigel. To put this in perspective, each astronomical unit is the distance between the earth and the sun, which is around 93,000,000 miles. It is so far that it takes a lot of time to browse the distance, which is also affected by the gravity of the sun, the collective gravity of the solar system and its small size.

Find out more: Chaos in our solar system could have caused a theoretically wide orbit of Planet X

Pluto has no circular orbit

PlutoThe orbit around the sun is not only a very long journey, it is also elliptical, resembling a Smooshed circle while it moves in space. The orbit of the earth around the sun, which takes 365 and 1/4 days, is much shorter and more circular.

“It can be so cold when it is most distant from the sun that its atmosphere is effectively freezing,” says Weigel. This means that atmospheric gases condense a solid state due to a drop in temperature. The New Horizons spacecraft showed it when it stolen about ten years ago.

Interesting, Neptune, which is the closest planet to Pluto, crosses the orbits with the dwarf planet. Pluto is inside Neptune orbit for 20 years. There is also a period on its orbit when it is actually closer to the sun than Neptune because of its shape.

“Pluto’s orbit is very elliptical and Neptune is less so,” explains Weigel.

Pluto has a bunch of moons

Another interesting fact about Pluto is that he has a large number of moons. In all, he has five of them: Charon, which represents about half of its size, as well as Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. Think of the Underworld theme.

Charon is the largest of Pluto moons. Charon and Pluto are so similar, in fact, that Weigel says that instead of an orbit around the other, “they dance mainly in space.” Two of the moons were discovered when New Horizons was on the way to Orbit Pluto, and all are a little smaller than Charon. They are also angular and not as spherical as Charon.

Thanks to New Horizons, we finally have a real image of Pluto. Our best observations of Hubble could only show us a slight variation of color before, but now we know what its surface looks like and how thin its atmosphere is. We know its temperature and how it orbit.

“Most of the time, everything we discovered about Pluto is thanks to New Horizons,” said Weigel.

Find out more: Pluto may have been formed from the newly discovered kissing and capture mechanism

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Sara Novak is a scientific journalist based in South Carolina. In addition to writing to discover, his work appears in Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, Sierra Magazine, Astronomy Magazine and many others. She obtained a Baccalaureate in journalism from the Grady School of Journalism from the University of Georgia. She is also a candidate for a master’s degree in scientific writing from Johns Hopkins University (expected diploma 2023).