Demystifying the Pluto Symbol ♇: From Astronomy to Astrology
The symbol ♇ (U+2647) represents the dwarf planet Pluto. Originally designed in 1930, the character is a monogram combining the letters "P" and "L". These letters stand for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, as well as Percival Lowell, the American astronomer whose early research led to the celestial body's discovery. Today, the symbol appears primarily in astrology and historical astronomical texts.
When Clyde Tombaugh officially discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory, the team needed a standard planetary symbol. They chose the ♇ monogram to honor Percival Lowell's foundational work. While Pluto lost its official planet status in 2006—reclassified by the International Astronomical Union as a dwarf planet—the ♇ symbol remains deeply embedded in our cultural and scientific lexicon.
In modern contexts, you will rarely see astronomers using ♇ in scientific papers, as they now prefer standard text abbreviations. However, the symbol thrives in astrology. Astrologers use ♇ to signify transformation, rebirth, and power, associating it with the zodiac sign Scorpio. You might also spot it in typography and design projects aiming for a mystical or vintage scientific aesthetic, or on social media when users discuss planetary retrogrades and birth charts.
In the Unicode standard, the Pluto symbol sits in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Its official character name is PLUTO, mapped to the code point U+2647. Because it is a classic text character rather than a colorful modern emoji, its appearance changes depending on the font you use. Some fonts render the "P" and "L" with elegant serifs, while others use clean, geometric lines.
Typing the ♇ symbol requires a few shortcuts depending on your device. On Windows, you can find it in the Character Map app, or type 2647 followed by Alt + X in Microsoft Word. Mac users can open the Character Viewer by pressing Command + Control + Space and searching for "Pluto". If you are building a website, you can insert it into HTML using the decimal entity ♇ or the hexadecimal code ♇.
If you are exploring celestial symbols, ♇ has a few close relatives. It shares the same Unicode block with the symbols for Uranus (♅) and Neptune (♆). Additionally, there is a second astrological symbol for Pluto that looks like a circle resting on a crescent above a cross (⯓, U+2BD3). While ♇ serves as the traditional monogram, European astrologers frequently prefer the alternative ⯓ symbol to map out the distant dwarf planet.