Pluto's distance from the Sun varies because it has an elliptical and tilted orbit. On average, Pluto is about 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers), or roughly 39 astronomical units (AU), from the Sun. One AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers)

. Pluto's orbit ranges from about 30 AU (approximately 2.8 billion miles or 4.5 billion kilometers) at its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) to about 49 AU (around 4.6 billion miles or 7.4 billion kilometers) at its farthest point (aphelion)

. This means Pluto's distance can vary significantly over its 248-year orbit. Because of this elliptical orbit, Pluto sometimes comes closer to the Sun than Neptune, but due to the inclination of its orbit and a stable orbital resonance with Neptune, the two bodies never collide

. In summary:

• Average distance: ~3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion km) or 39 AU
• Closest distance (perihelion): ~2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion km) or 30 AU
• Farthest distance (aphelion): ~4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion km) or 49 AU

It takes sunlight about 5.5 hours to travel from the Sun to Pluto at this average distance