Star Tours

Pluto regained its status as the solar system’s most distant planet at 2:08 a.m. PST today. Pluto, which has been within Neptune’s orbit since 1979, this morning moved outside its orbit to once again become the ninth planet. Pluto remains the most distant planet until April 2231. When Pluto crossed Neptune’s orbit this morning, it was about 2.8 billion miles from the sun, approximately 30 times the Earth’s distance from the sun. Shown above is how Pluto’s orbit was slightly closer to the sun for the past 20 years.

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Source: John Mosley, Griffith Observatory