Pluto

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Pluto and Charon

haze layer on Pluto

New Horizons near Pluto

mountains on Pluto

Sputnik Planitia on Pluto

sunset view of Pluto

Pluto; Charon; Nix; Hydra

For Students

Read Next

Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.

10 Important Dates in Pluto History

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its three moons in summer of 2015.

Christening Pluto’s Moons

US Marines firing at Fallujah, Iraq, during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004. Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq War.

Timeline of the 2000s

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?

Pluto. Crop of asset: 172304/IC code: pluto0010 at 270 degrees. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs 2002-03.

Wee Worlds: Our 5 (Official) Dwarf Planets

Discover

Scolex (head) of the tapeworm Taenia solium. The hooks of the scolex enable the tapeworm to attach to the intestinal wall.

Uninvited Guests: The 7 Worst Parasitic Worms

Nelson Mandela, undated photo.

15 Nelson Mandela Quotes

Demystified - Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide? illustration

Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide?

Salem Witch Trials. Photogravure after the painting by Walter McEwen titled - The Witches - circa 1890s.

How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials

Estimated battle casualties, Normandy invasion, World War II. WWII, D-Day

Estimated Battle Casualties During the Normandy Invasion and Campaign to Liberate Paris (June–August 1944)

New York NY/ USA- November 23, 2018 Hordes of shoppers throng the Macy's Herald Square flagship store in New York looking for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday.

Why Is It Called Black Friday?

airplane in flight (plane, aircraft, flying)

7 Puzzling Plane Disappearances

Pluto: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Jun 15, 2025

News •

James Webb telescope discovers 'a new kind of climate' on Pluto, unlike anything else in our solar system • June 15, 2025, 1:07 AM ET (Live Science)

Pluto's hazy skies are making the dwarf planet even colder, James Webb Space Telescope finds • June 13, 2025, 2:10 AM ET (Space)

Move over, Pluto: Scientists have discovered a new dwarf planet at the solar system's edge • May 24, 2025, 6:43 AM ET (Live Science)

Photos and Videos

Pluto and Charon

haze layer on Pluto

New Horizons near Pluto

mountains on Pluto

Sputnik Planitia on Pluto

sunset view of Pluto

Pluto; Charon; Nix; Hydra

Why isn't Pluto a planet?

Learn about the dwarf planets within our solar system

How do features on Pluto and its moons get their names?

Study the rotating Pluto through photographs taken by Hubble Space Telescope from 2002 to 2003

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

Ceres Haumea Eris Makemake

Quiz

View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

Astronomy and Space Quiz

The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet

Space Odyssey

View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

Astronomy and Space Quiz

M101 (NGC 5457, The Pinwheel Galaxy). Hubble Space Telescope image of face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101). Largest most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy that has ever been released from Hubble. Created from 1994-2003

Everything in Space in a 25-Minute Quiz

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

Scientists combine four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) with Ralph instrument infrared images to create this false color global view of dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015, 280,000 miles away from the spacecraft.

Pluto

Saturn. Saturn and its rings. Second largest planet of the solar system. Space Art

Planets and the Earth’s Moon

List

Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.

10 Important Dates in Pluto History

Pluto. Crop of asset: 172304/IC code: pluto0010 at 270 degrees. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs 2002-03.

Wee Worlds: Our 5 (Official) Dwarf Planets

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its three moons in summer of 2015.

Christening Pluto’s Moons

Demystified

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?