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Pluto

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Only photo of Pluto available. Courtesy of Nick Howes.
 

Pluto is so small and far from the sun that it is only visible in large (200mm+) amateur telescopes under good conditions. I only ever expect to see it at a star party and haven't so far. Even Hubble Space telescope pictures don't show much. It is gradually getting worse placed from the UK but has the additional problems of moving even further away from us in its highly elliptical orbit and will cross the Milky Way in a few years.

It is generally regarded as the last of the planets but some objects up to similar size have been discovered and there is still speculation that even larger planets than Pluto may exist undiscovered further away from us or lost against the Milky Way background.
 

Name	Pluto
Maximum Magnitude	+13.7
Minimum Magnitude	+15
Solar "year" - time to circle the sun	248 years
Sydonic period - time to return to the same place in the sky relative to the sun	367 days
Maximum Elongation from the Sun	180 degrees
Maximum Apparent Size	0.1 arcseconds
Minimum Apparent Size	0.1 arcseconds
Distance from Sun	3 666 million miles
Minimum Distance from Earth	2 650 million miles
Maximum Distance from Earth	4 900 million miles
Best view in 50mm binoculars	You must be kidding!
Best view in 60mm refractor	You must be kidding!
Best view in 127mm Maksutov	You must be kidding!

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