Texts and descriptions are fine and dandy, but to see planet Pluto for what it is is another thing altogether.  Enjoy these pictures of Pluto.      

Mass: 1.29 x 1022 Diameter (km): 2300 Mean density (kg/m3): 2030 Escape velocity (m/s): 1100 Average distance from Sun: 39.48 AU (5,906,376,200 km) Rotation period (length of day in Earth days): 6.39 (retrograde) Revolution period (length of year in Earth years): 247.92 Obliquity (tilt of axis degrees): 122.5 Orbit inclination (degrees): 17.15 Orbit eccentricity (deviation from circular): 0.248 Mean temperature (K): 37 Visual geometric albedo (reflectivity): about 0.5 Atmospheric components: perhaps methane and nitrogen Surface materials: perhaps methane ice.

Pluto is the smallest planet in the Solar System, smaller than Earth’s Moon, and half the width of Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede. Pluto’s journey around the Sun takes 248 Earth years. This means that, since its discovery in 1930, it still has 177 years to go until it has made a complete orbit around the Sun. Pluto’s atmosphere is composed of a thin layer of gas containing carbon monoxide, methane, and nitrogen. Its atmospheric pressure has been estimated to be 1/700,000 [...]