Pluto moves around the sun in an elongated ellipse in about 248 years .
Orbit
Photo Credit: Nasa
Photo Credit: Nasa
Between about 4.4 and 7.4 billion kilometers . For comparison: At about 150 million kilometers, the Earth is only a stone's throw from the sun.
Distance from the sun
2,374 kilometers - only a fifth of the diameter of the Earth (12,756) and less than half of the largest moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
Diameter
Photo Credit: Nasa
Because of its great distance from the sun, the temperature on its surface drops to minus 249 degrees Celsius .
Temperature
Photo Credit: Nasa
Unlike the "mainstream" planets from Mercury, Mars to Neptune, Pluto orbits the sun in long, stretched-out circles .
Photo Credit: Nasa
It does so at a highly unusual angle. Pluto is round, as a planet should be, but much smaller.
Photo Credit: Nasa
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto is not a full-fledged planet, but only a dwarf planet . Some scientists criticize this as petty.
Photo Credit: Nasa
The parliament of the US state of Illinois decided in 2009 that Pluto is a planet after all.