Pluto's distance from Earth varies significantly due to the elliptical and inclined nature of its orbit. The distance can range approximately from about 4.28 billion kilometers (2.66 billion miles) at their closest approach to about 7.5 billion kilometers (4.67 billion miles) when they are on opposite sides of the Sun

. Currently, Pluto is roughly 5.2 billion kilometers (about 3.24 billion miles) away from Earth, which corresponds to about 34.9 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun (~150 million km)

. To summarize:

• Closest distance: ~4.28 billion km (2.66 billion miles)
• Average distance: ~5.2 billion km (3.24 billion miles)
• Farthest distance: ~7.5 billion km (4.67 billion miles)

Because of this vast distance, it takes light about 4.8 to 5.5 hours to travel from Pluto to Earth

. Thus, Pluto is on average about 39 times farther from the Sun (and Earth) than Earth is from the Sun, making it one of the most distant objects in the Solar System accessible to observation and space missions