Solar System Simulator · Spacecraft · live
Where is New Horizons right now?
Past Pluto since 2015, crossing the Kuiper belt. Launched 19 January 2006 by NASA.
Worked out for Fri, Oct 23, 2026 (UTC) from JPL Horizons.
What New Horizons is doing
New Horizons flew past Pluto on 14 July 2015 and past the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth on 1 January 2019, the most distant world ever visited. It is still in the Kuiper belt, measuring the dust and the solar wind out there.
What happens next
It leaves the Kuiper belt around 2029 and keeps going; its plutonium power source should run its instruments into the 2030s, and it may yet cross into interstellar space like the Voyagers.
Timeline
| When | Event |
|---|---|
| 19 Jan 2006 | Launch, the fastest ever |
| 28 Feb 2007 | Jupiter flyby |
| 14 Jul 2015 | Pluto flyby |
| 1 Jan 2019 | Arrokoth flyby |
What the simulator does
- Open the Now tab: the clock jumps to this minute and pauses, and every probe is drawn where JPL Horizons puts it, among the planets where they really are.
- Pick New Horizons and the view centres on it; the compressed distance scale keeps even the Voyagers in the frame.
- The positions come from JPL's tables, refreshed every day; the planets come from the simulator's own physics on today's date.
Questions people ask
Where is New Horizons right now?
New Horizons is 65.9 AU from the Sun, 9.86 billion km (6.12 billion mi), and 66.1 AU from Earth. Light from it takes 9.2 hours to reach us.
How far is New Horizons from Earth?
66.1 AU, 9.89 billion km (6.14 billion mi) from Earth today, so a radio signal takes 9.2 hours each way.
Is New Horizons still working?
Yes. It sends back data on the outer Solar System and has enough power to keep running into the 2030s.
How is its position worked out?
From JPL Horizons, NASA's ephemeris service, which tracks every spacecraft from its radio signals. This site keeps a table of positions a few days apart and reads today's from it; the page is rendered for the day it is served.
Keep going
The distances come from JPL Horizons, refreshed daily; the map and the simulator place the planets with the site's own physics.