This graphic presents a view of Pluto and Charon as they would appear if placed slightly above Earth's surface and viewed from a great distance.  Recent measurements obtained by New Horizons indicate that Pluto has a diameter of 2370 km, 18.5% that of Earth's, while Charon has a diameter of 1208 km, 9.5% that of Earth's. Courtesy of NASA from www.nasa.gov / Editor: Tricia Talbert

For most of its life Pluto has been the incredible shrinking planet. When first discovered, astronomers thought it was the size of Jupiter, then Earth, then Earth’s moon.

We’ve known for a while that it is about two-thirds the size of our moon, but New Horizons took a more exact measurement.

It is 1,473 miles in diameter.

That makes it bigger than Eris, the largest of its known rivals in the Kuiper Belt. And that makes it, as the NASA press releases say: β€œThe King of the Kuiper Belt.”

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