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Which Planet is the Furthest from the Sun Right Now?

-- Timmy | December 16, 2020

Animated image of ALMA observation of Pluto and Charon

Question:

Including Pluto, what is the farest planet from the Sun right now.

From,
|TAC| Azvid.
|TAC| stands for Team AwesomeCats TAC is a team for the FLVS game jams.

-- Timmy

Answer:

If you assume that Pluto is still categorized as a planet, Pluto is normally the farthest planet from the Sun. Note that Pluto’s orbit is highly elliptical, though, so there are periods when Pluto’s orbital distance is less than Neptune’s. This happens for about 20 years out of every 248 years. From February 7, 1979 to February 11, 1999 Neptune’s distance from the Sun was larger than Pluto’s. Pluto is currently the most distant planet from the Sun, though as you probably know Pluto was “demoted” to dwarf planet status in August 2006.

-- Jeff Mangum

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