Pluto-Pluto is the 9th planet from our sun. It is very far away! It takes Pluto about 248 years to orbit, or circle, the Sun 1 time. Pluto spins like a top 1 time in about 6 Earth days. We have not learned much about Pluto, because it is so far away from us. We know that Pluto is smaller than Earth, and that the temperature on Pluto may be -300 degrees! That is cold! Scientists are almost sure that there is no life on Pluto.

Pluto

Fast Facts:

  • Namesake: Roman God of the Underworld
  • Pluto was discovered in 1930
  • There are no known rings around Pluto
  • Pluto's atmosphere is made up of: Nitrogen, Carbon, Monoxide, & Methane
  • Pluto has one moon: Charon.
  • It takes about 248 Earth years for Pluto to orbit the Sun.
  • One rotation (day) on Pluto is just over 6 days.
  • Pluto has a very elliptical orbit around the Sun and has the greatest vertical orbit of all the planets.

Enchanted Learning's Fact Sheet on Pluto