How Big Is Pluto?

Pluto’s diameter, 2,370 km (1,473 miles), is less than half that of Mercury (4,880 km [3,032 miles]) and only about two-thirds the size of Earth’s Moon (3,474 km [2,159 miles]. Pluto is thus significantly smaller than any of the planets in the solar system and more comparable in size to some of the larger moons orbiting the outer planets rather than any of the planets themselves. This diminutive size is one of the reasons why Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

Pluto’s size is more typical of objects found in the Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system beyond Neptune filled with icy remnants from the solar system’s formation. Pluto is one of the largest Kuiper Belt objects.