Is the orbital plane of Pluto expected to eventually synchronize with the ecliptic?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

No. Pluto's orbit already is in a 2:3 resonant orbit with Neptune. 

No other planet's or dwarf planet's orbital plane is aligned with Earth's. Even the plane of the Sun's equator is tilted a little more than  7°.  

Answer 2

bNo because Pluto has such a weak pull by the Sun and would be easy to perturb

It is already in a resonance with Neptune at 4 : 3

That makes it still a part of the Solar System

It is also Tidally Locked with its moon Charon, which also effects its balance, Orbiting like a Dumbbell

Source(s): Photo provided by New Horizons

Answer 3

The reason most planets orbit near the plane of the ecliptic is the dissipation of energy and transfer of angular momentum that occurred while the proto-planetary disk was still gaseous and therefore had some viscosity and the ability to loose orbital energy via radiation.  Once the planets formed and the remaining gas in the disk dissipated as the Sun turned on, the changes in angular momentum of planetary orbits slowed by many orders-of-magnitude.  This is especially true in the outer solar system, where things move slowly and the interactions between bodies is still "chaotic" --- the Kuiper belt is thick and warped, and the Oort cloud is essentially spherical.  The chaotic nature of the interactions out in the Kuiper belt may cause the orbital plane of Pluto to shift over the millions of years and thousands of orbits, but the changes are not necessarily in the direction of aligning Pluto's orbital angular momentum with the rest of the solar system.

Answer 4

No, there is no physical reason the orbital plane of Pluto would lose its eccentricity over the remaining lifetime of the sun.