NASA unveils Giant 'Pluto Time' Mosaic of Pluto and Charon

A photo of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh is embedded in this mosaic of hundreds of images shared during the #PlutoTime campaign. Credits: NASA/JPL

NASA unveiled two mosaics of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, representing the global response to its popular #PlutoTime social media campaign. The Pluto Time concept and widget was developed by the New Horizons science team so that people could experience the approximate sunlight level on Pluto at noon—generally around dawn or dusk on Earth. Thousands of those submissions have now been assembled into three stunning mosaics of Pluto, Charon, and a combined image of the two. The mosaics include not only dim skies on Earth, but famous landmarks, selfies, and even family pets.

A photo of Clyde Tombaugh, the American who discovered Pluto in 1930, is embedded in this mosaic of hundreds of images shared during the campaign. If you zoom in on the inset in this image, you can see a photo of Tombaugh and his homemade 9-inch telescope in the region of Pluto’s “heart,” informally named Tombaugh Regio.

A computer-generated composite view of Pluto and its large moon Charon is filled with about 2,100 #PlutoTime images shared on social media. Credits: NASA/JPL

Gigapan Pluto mosaic

Gigapan Charon mosaic

View the Pluto Time mosaic of Charon

View the Pluto Time mosaic of Pluto and Charon

For the original Pluto press release, click here.

To access the full features of Pluto Safari please download the FREE app for iOS from the Apple App Store or Pluto Safari: New Horizons for Android from Google Play.

Alternatively, if you have SkySafari or Pluto Safari installed you could download the simulation settings file here.