How Big is Pluto?

Pluto used to be the smallest planet in the Solar System, but now it isn't a planet any more, thanks to a recent decision from the International Astronomical Union. But now it's one of the largest dwarf planets, so that's a good thing. How big is Pluto?

The diameter of Pluto is only 2,390 km across. Just for comparison, that's about 70% the diameter of the Moon. And it's a fraction of the size of the Earth; about 18% of the Earth's diameter.

In terms of volume, Pluto only has 6.39 x 10

. That sounds like a huge number, but it's only 0.59% of the volume of the Earth. In other words, you could put almost 170 objects the size of Pluto inside the Earth.

The mass of Pluto is 1.3 x 10

kg, which is only 0.2% the mass of the Earth, or 18% the mass of the Moon. Needless to say, Pluto doesn't have very much mass at all.

The surface area of Pluto is 1.67 x 10

square kilometers. That's only 3.3% the surface area of Earth, and about the same surface area as Russia.

If you could stand on the surface of Pluto, you would experience only 6.7% the gravity you enjoy on Earth.

We have written many article about Pluto for Universe Today. Here's an article that explains

why Pluto isn't a planet any more

, and here are some

interesting facts about Pluto

Want more information on Pluto? Here's

Hubblesite's News Releases about Pluto

, and here's a link to

NASA's Solar System Exploration Guide to Pluto

We've recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast about

Pluto and the rest of the icy outer Solar System

. You can find it here.