Hello #Pluto! We’re at closest approach. Congrats to all! Follow our story & view new images using #PlutoFlyby.
NASA New Horizons

@NASANewHorizons
After exploring Pluto & its moons in July 2015, New Horizons encountered Arrokoth, the KBO in 2019; the farthest flyby in history. Verification: nasa.gov/social
NASA New Horizons’s posts
In less than 48 hours, New Horizons will make history! The team at is preparing for the #NewYears flyby of #UltimaThule, the farthest object explored by a spacecraft ever - 4 billion miles from the Sun and ~1 billion miles from Pluto.
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#Plutoflyby countdown (#7) - A Heart on Pluto ❤️
#OTD in 2015, mission scientists received this view of Pluto. This image was the first to be received since an anomaly on July 4 sent the spacecraft into safe mode. This pic gave us the first real good look at Pluto's heart.
After 9.5 years & 3.26 BILLION miles I'm just 2 hours - aka 62,258 miles - from closest approach! #PlutoFlyby
RELEASED: Enhanced color image shows #Pluto's compositional diversity during #PlutoFlyby. go.nasa.gov/1HIsscd
Had enough? Of course not! View on a large screen to zoom & see #Pluto's complex features. go.nasa.gov/1MsNvoj
After a 9.5 year, 3 BILLION mile journey, only 1.5 days and 1 million miles left till the historic #PlutoFlyBy.
No matter how far we are apart, #Pluto will always have our heart. ❤️
#SpaceValentines #ValentinesDay
Join us at 10:15 a.m. (ET) from : New Horizons Signal Acquisition from the #UltimaThule Flyby. Watch live on NASA TV: nasa.gov/nasalive
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TODAY at 10:15am (ET), the @NASANewHorizons team shares the first image of #UltimaThule - as well as updates on spacecraft status and flyby success - from the Mission Operations Center at #JHUAPL! Where to watch: bit.ly/jhuapl-flyby-w
Success! New Horizons fires thrusters, refines course and close-approach timing for #MU69 flyby on New Year’s 2019. pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Ne
#OTD in 1930, a young astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh discovered #Pluto. In so doing, he unknowingly opened the door to the vast "third zone" of the solar system we now know as the Kuiper Belt, home to countless planetesimals and dwarf planets. bit.ly/nh-2vNllWQ
1 hour to closest approach. That's 31,243 miles / 50280.73km. #PlutoFlyby
On #NewYearsEve, will perform the most distant planetary flyby ever as it zooms past an object nicknamed #UltimaThule. Make sure to follow our partner for updates: pluto.jhuapl.edu
It’s official! Pluto’s "heart" has a name! Check out the first official set names for Pluto's features! MORE >> go.nasa.gov/2eKolaU
#Plutoflyby countdown (#1) - New Horizons Team Sees Pluto in Detail
#OTD in 2015, members of the New Horizons science team at react to seeing the spacecraft's last and sharpest image of #Pluto before closest approach later in the day. (📸: NASA/Bill Ingalls) #5years
Feeling honored, as Dr. Hawking thanks our #PlutoFlyby team. This day keeps getting better. go.nasa.gov/1HtHinL
We're 8,150 miles from #Pluto & scanning the equator. Can't wait to share what we find with our fans. #PlutoFlyby
Marking New Year's ~125 mil miles beyond Pluto, let's look back at 2015, the year of Pluto: go.nasa.gov/1NV7rRO
Close-ups from the Kuiper Belt! #NewHorizons has sent home its sharpest images from the #UltimaThule flyby, revealing new details about the farthest object ever explored by spacecraft. go.nasa.gov/2NmIR1H
#Plutoflyby countdown (#5) - Signs of Geology
#OTD 5 years ago, New Horizons snapped this photo of Pluto from 3.3 million miles away! This image revealed tantalizing signs of geology on the side facing away from Pluto’s large companion moon, Charon.
#NewHorizons is more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) from Earth & returning stored data from #PlutoFlyby.
Six years ago today, ’s New Horizons made history with the first up-close exploration of the #Pluto system, resulting in the sharpest images & data gathered of Pluto & moon Charon as it zipped by at +30,000mph. jhuapl.link/9hm
On target! Mission Operations at confirms a successful course-correction maneuver today, keeping #NewHorizons on track for its Jan. 1 Kuiper Belt flyby of Ultima Thule. Details to come.
Just confirmed in New Horizons mission operations: spacecraft successfully completed its first course-correction on approach to its Jan. 1 flyby target in the Kuiper Belt! Details to come.
3.79 billion miles from Earth, #NewHorizons snapped these images of a pair of Kuiper Belt objects, making them the farthest images ever taken by a spacecraft!
🌏... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 📸 ... ... ... ✨
LEARN MORE >> go.nasa.gov/2FX7nBD
In four days from now, I will be passing through the Pluto system. I am the first. Pluto is my Everest. #PlutoFlyby
#OnThisDay in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, a small planet on the outer frontier of the #solarsystem. Almost 90 years later we continue Clyde’s legacy of exploration with New Horizons which, in 2015, revealed this small world’s icy wonders.
Five years after New Horizons’ historic flyby, here are 10 cool things we learned About Pluto. #plutoflyby go.nasa.gov/3fsYthF
New pics, new info! New Horizons scientists at confirm the two sections (or “lobes”) of #UltimaThule are not spherical. The larger lobe more closely resembles a giant pancake and the smaller lobe is shaped like a dented walnut! nasa.gov/feature/new-ho
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The New Horizons team reports the spacecraft is healthy and on track for the historic flyby of #UltimaThule just after midnight tonight! Watch flyby events live on NASATV and starting at 2pm (ET): nasa.gov/nasalive | Pluto.jhuapl.edu
Unknown no longer! In a fitting tribute to the farthest flyby ever conducted by spacecraft, Kuiper Belt object #MU69 has officially been named #Arrokoth, a Native American term meaning “sky” in the Powhatan/Algonquian language. go.nasa.gov/33HnAqN
NEW IMAGE: Charon, moon of Pluto!
Learn more at: go.nasa.gov/1I6oKNZ
The countdown is on! The #NewHorizons team is LIVE on TV today at 3 pm ET to talk space #exploration and preview our #NYE19 #UltimaThule flyby. nasa.gov/live | tag questions #askNASA
#OTD in 2019, 's #NewHorizons flew by Arrokoth, the farthest object ever explored by spacecraft. Arrokoth is about about 50 AU, or 4 billion miles from the Sun. New Horizons is ~56 AU from Earth and will join Voyagers 1 & 2 in interstellar space in the 2040s.
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"Charon has a 4-6 mile deep canyon + troughs, cliffs." says Cathy Olkin, NH Dep Proj Scientist go.nasa.gov/1LaqoAB
NASA's New Horizons begins its second extended mission! 🎉
The spacecraft will continue exploring the outer reaches of the solar system, collecting particle measurements and data to better understand the Kuiper Belt and the Sun's outer heliosphere. jhuapl.link/nh-i5g
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Wow! We just took more than 1,200 pictures of Pluto. Going to try for a few more while we're in the neighborhood. #PlutoFlyBy
Great scale graphic of #Pluto & its moon Charon compared to our pale, blue dot. My new fav pic.... for NOW! ;-)
#PlutoFlyby haiku, anyone? We will start: "Since 1930 - Pluto, we have dreamed of you – You were worth the wait!"
We’re doing the 1st of 4 maneuvers for a possible encounter with 2014 MU69, an object 1 billion miles past #Pluto
Seeing double 👀
On April 22 & 23, New Horizons will take images of two of the nearest stars, Proxima Centauri & Wolf 359. When combined w/Earth-based images, the result will be a record-setting parallax measurement. Here's how you can participate: bit.ly/nh-2VfIA6k
IMAGE RELEASE UPDATE! Mountains on Pluto, up to 11,000 feet high! Thank you #PlutoFlyby.
nasa.gov/image-feature/ …
Today is the day! In a few hours, I'll be flying by Pluto. #PlutoFlyby
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Meet us on #reddit at noon ET, and ask us anything about the #NewHorizons mission to #Pluto and the #KuiperBelt - especially our upcoming flyby of #UltimaThule! Post your questions at bit.ly/2EfYghR
Coming up on 1 million miles, so here's ANOTHER new image! :-)
go.nasa.gov/1JZXGCf
T-10 minutes & counting. 9,975 miles to closest approach. The excitement is so thick, you can cut it with a knife! #PlutoFlyBy #NASA
Now 471,030 miles from Pluto & taking pictures to look for rings & moons. There's a lot of black sky out here. #PlutoFlyby
What makes a cool #KuiperBelt flyby movie even cooler? When the soundtrack comes from 's own ! 🤘 go.nasa.gov/2Ob2aLS #UltimaThule #LPSC2019
#OTD in 2006, 's New Horizons left Earth, ultimately changing our understanding of Pluto, the Kuiper Belt, and beyond. Now, 5.2 billion miles away (and counting), New Horizons and are the farthest operational human-made objects in space.
The #NewHorizons spacecraft is on final approach to #UltimaThule! Lots happening to get ready for our historic #NYE19 flyby in the #KuiperBelt. Get the latest from Mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern in this new blog post --> blogs.nasa.gov/pluto/
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"Pluto’s atmosphere is being lost in space. It’s lost about 300 meters of nitrogen," says #PlutoFlyby P.I. Alan Stern
Tomorrow morning, we'll be at #Pluto! :-) Where will you be? Watch live coverage on TV: nasa.gov/nasatv
The "phone home" signal is crossing Jupiter's orbit. Just 400 millions miles to go. #PlutoFlyby
As I approached #Pluto, it was a big red object in the sky. Now it's a thin crescent, more in shadow. #PlutoFlyBy
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Mission Operations at just confirmed: small course-correction maneuver to refine #NewHorizons' path to #UltimaThule was a success! Two weeks to the #NYE19 #Ultimaflyby in the Kuiper Belt. Details to come.
The New Horizons team has published the first results from the New Year's 2019 flyby of #MU69, the most distant object ever explored by spacecraft, in ! go.nasa.gov/30qmaji
New Image: Pluto mountain range near Tombaugh Region! See more 2pm ET Fri, July 24 on TV go.nasa.gov/1Ih5IVe
#OTD - July 14, 2015
After nearly 10yrs & over 3 billion miles, New Horizons made its closest approach to #Pluto - about 7,750 miles above the surface, making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. pluto.jhuapl.edu
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The distance has been set for #NewHorizons' flyby of MU69 - 3 times closer than the 2015 Pluto flyby! READ MORE >> go.nasa.gov/2gIjurp
NEW IMAGE RELEASED: Hydra & Nix, two of Pluto's moons, as seen during #PlutoFlyby. go.nasa.gov/1JeEf7m
Ultima Thule in view! We've made our first detection of our next flyby target, more than 100 million miles out from our New Year's 2019 close-up encounter in the Kuiper Belt. LEARN MORE >> go.nasa.gov/2wujbZ8
In three days New Horizons will fly within 2,220 miles of #UltimaThule, an object ~1 billion miles past Pluto. It will give us the first close-up look at such a pristine building block of the solar system. Want to watch the flyby events? Here's how: bit.ly/jhuapl-flyby-w
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Three more days before @NASANewHorizons makes history! The flyby of #UltimaThule on #NYE2019 will be the first time an object so far will be explored by a #spacecraft. It's pretty far, about a billion miles from #Pluto! pluto.jhuapl.edu
3,573,076 miles / 5750308km past Pluto! This will be our LAST LOOK at the dark areas on Pluto's surface. Bitter sweet! #PlutoFlyby
Anxiously waiting for a "phone home" signal to mark a successful #PlutoFlyby. The signal passed the "half-way" point!
It's like Christmas in July & we've been up all night! Thanks for following along on this 9+ year journey!
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#TGIF. Enjoy the best pics humans may see for decades of #Pluto, courtesy our #PlutoFlyby. go.nasa.gov/1QkXDlU
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Have a good-sized telescope with a digital camera? 🔭📸 You can join the New Horizons mission team this spring on a really cool - and record-setting - deep-space experiment! bit.ly/nh-2vqguuC
THIS WAY TO #PLUTO! After 3 BILLION miles, less than 1 million left. That's 1609344km for our global fans! ;-)
1 of 2. Enjoy this #Pluto color close-up, taken during our closest approach of #PlutoFlyby. go.nasa.gov/1U9lBkk
Bill McKinnon, “We have evidence for geological activity in Sputnik Planum. It's a dream come true!" #PlutoFlyby
Team celebrates confirmation from mission control that we’re Pluto bound, #PlutoFlyBy sequence officially underway.
Hydra, Pluto's potato-shaped moon is 27 miles (43 km) by 20 miles (33 km). Thanks #PlutoFlyby
go.nasa.gov/1f4F7zo
6 hours and 185,135 miles / 297945.9km till closest approach. Watch more at: seeplutonow.com #PlutoFlyBy
Only 11 hours left! It's been 3,463 days since launch! In the a.m., watch live coverage on TV. #PlutoFlyBy
With no apparent hazards in our way, #NewHorizons is "go" for the inside track to #UltimaThule - the prime science path for our #NYE19 flyby of this ancient #KuiperBelt object a billion miles beyond Pluto! Learn more--> bit.ly/2EvzlH5
#Plutoflyby countdown (#4) - The Last Portrait of Pluto’s Puzzling Spots
Taken early the morning of July 11, 2015, this is New Horizons' last look at Pluto's Charon-facing hemisphere revealed intriguing geologic details that were of keen interest to mission scientists.
"It's been 3 days since you've looked at me," says Pluto. Can't believe it's been that long already. "Thanks for the memories." #PlutoFlyby
The first-ever distant observation of a Kuiper Belt Object - from INSIDE the Kuiper Belt! go.nasa.gov/1QIfNQv
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Hal Weaver, New Horizons Project Scientist says, "Hydra is primarily composed of water-ice." #PlutoFlylby! :-)
New Horizons has reached a rare deep-space milepost - 50AU from the Sun. It is now 50 times farther from the Sun than Earth! New Horizons is just 1 of 5 spacecraft to reach this distance on its way out of the solar system. bit.ly/nh-50facts
In January 2019, from mission control at , New Horizons brought #MU69 to life. 🛰️ Exactly 5 years ago, the mission team, using , discovered this distant Kuiper Belt object, making it part of space exploration history. bit.ly/apl-2ZQlC5o
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