Pluto is smaller than Russia, really
Here's a quick look at how these two celestial bodies stack up size-wise
If you took the entire surface of Pluto—every single icy mountain
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- Here's a quick look at how these two celestial bodies stack up size-wise
- Despite its planetary status for decades, Pluto is essentially a speck of ice.
- While Pluto is smaller than a single nation on Earth, its largest moon, Charon, is half the size of the planet itself.
If you laid the entire surface of Pluto out flat, it would fail to cover the country of Russia. The dwarf planet measures roughly 6.4 million square miles, while the Russian Federation stretches across 6.6 million square miles.
Pluto is so narrow that it could fit comfortably within the borders of the United States. If you drove a car from the East Coast to the West Coast, you would travel further than the distance across Pluto’s diameter.
Despite its planetary status for decades, Pluto is essentially a speck of ice. Its mass is so low that it accounts for only 0.07 times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. Gravity holds it in a sphere, but its total real estate is smaller than the landmass of South America.
While Pluto is smaller than a single nation on Earth, its largest moon, Charon, is half the size of the planet itself. This creates a gravitational tug-of-war that makes the two bodies dance around a point in empty space, technically making them a double-planet system.
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