Pluto Safari

NASA's Pluto Mission in Palm of Your Hands

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Pluto Safari is your interactive guide to the first mission to Pluto, the last unexplored planet. It's a free app for iOS and Android. Follow the New Horizons spacecraft on its historic mission to explore the mysterious icy worlds at the edge of our solar system. New Horizons will fly by Pluto and Charon on July 14, 2015. It will then venture out even further and attempt to visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. Here is what you can do with Pluto Safari: Countdown: ​Track when New Horizons will reach Pluto ­ down to the second ­ with the Closest Approach to Pluto countdown clock. The distance to Pluto in km is also displayed. Location:​ Provides interactive views on the latest position of New Horizons and Pluto. Get a bird’s­eye view of our Solar System as New Horizons approaches Pluto. Rotate around a detailed 3D model of the New Horizons spacecraft, explore the Pluto system and its moons. Find Pluto in the sky from your home location, or even fly through some of the objects in the Kuiper Belt. Timeline: ​New Horizons launched from Cape Canaveral on January 19, 2006 on an Atlas V launch vehicle. Explore detailed New Horizons mission milestones in the interactive solar system simulator. Guide: ​A multimedia guide to Pluto, its discovery, the first mission to explore it, and the controversy generated by its demotion to dwarf planet status. News: ​Updated information on the latest mission news, data, and discoveries. Poll: ​Do you agree with the IAU’s decision in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet"? Read both sides of the argument, and then have your say in this ongoing debate! Simulator: ​Provides an accurate depiction of the sky. Touch the sky and drag to change the direction you are looking. Use the Time Controls to flow the date and time dynamically, or adjust it step­by­step. Zoom controls adjust your field of view. The status bar displays the current date, time and location.