The Mission


Where Is New Horizons?

Current Position

The computer-generated images below show the location of New Horizons in the solar system.

Follow New Horizons as it passed each planet's orbit, starting with our own moon.

What is an AU?

The graphics on these pages note New Horizons' distance from Earth, the Sun and Pluto in AU, or Astronomical Units. One AU is the average distance between the Sun and Earth, about 93 million miles or 149.6 million kilometers.

Heliocentric Velocity

The overhead view graphic also notes the spacecraft's heliocentric velocity - its speed with respect to the Sun - in kilometers per second. One kilometer per second is equivalent to 0.62 miles per second, or 2,237 miles per hour.

Full Trajectory: Side View

This image shows New Horizons' current position along its full planned trajectory. The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the spacecraft's future path. Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is slightly above the orbital plane of the planets.

Full Trajectory: Overhead View

This image shows New Horizons' current position along its full planned trajectory. The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the spacecraft's future path. Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is above the Sun and "north" of Earth's orbit.

Passing Planets

Check below to see where each planet was when New Horizons zoomed by.

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Journey through the Kuiper Belt

The image below shows the path of New Horizons through the solar system and the positions of the Kuiper Belt objects that it will observe on its journey.

Diagram of journey to Kuiper Belt