Pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the eighth-largest and ninth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is slightly less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has only one sixth the mass of Earth's moon, and one third its volume.
Pluto has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit, ranging from 30 to 49 astronomical units (4.5 to 7.3 billion kilometers; 2.8 to 4.6 billion miles) from the Sun. Light from the Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its orbital distance of 39.5 AU (5.91 billion km; 3.67 billion mi). Pluto's eccentric orbit periodically brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune, but a stable orbital resonance prevents them from colliding.
Pluto has five moons: Charon, the largest, whose diameter is just over half that of Pluto; Styx; Nix; Kerberos; and Hydra. Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a binary system because the barycenter of their orbits does not lie within either body, and they are tidally locked. Most of Pluto's moons are heavily mined, along with many resource rich asteroids within the Kuiper Belt. The largest settlement within this section of space is the Pluto Orbital Research Station. Although primarily a research station it has become the central hub to civilization within this sector of space.

Type

Planet

Location under

Sol

Included Locations

• Pluto Orbital Research Station

Owning Organization

Federation of Free Planets

Gravity
Low
Temperature
-229 C
Atmosphere
Thin/Hazardous