Pluto takes 248 years to complete an orbit around the Sun and will only return to the position it occupied when it was discovered in 1930 in the year 2178. This means that approximately 248 years will pass between the discovery of the dwarf planet and its return to the same position in its orbital path.
The American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto almost a century ago, on photographic plates at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. However, this discovery did not mark the beginning of its orbit, as the object had already been orbiting the Sun for billions of years before it was identified.
Since that discovery, humanity has followed Pluto's trajectory for only a fraction of a Plutonian year. During this time, several human generations are born, live, and die while the dwarf planet travels an enormous distance around the Sun.
The article draws attention to this extraordinary fact: we have already sent a spacecraft past...
