My Google Map Blog

NASA’s New Horizons mission is approaching Pluto with its closest approach expected this coming Tuesday, July 14th. For the exact time, see the countdown clock on NASA’s New Horizons mission page.

Although the spacecraft is still a long way from Pluto, it is already capturing imagery that is of higher resolution than anything before seen. NASA has recently released the latest map of Pluto created from New Horizons imagery. In addition, NASA has made it available as a KMZ so you can view it in Google Earth. For best results, turn off all layers. The current map only shows the near side of Pluto, which is all that can be seen by the spacecraft, but NASA hopes to map the far side as well once the spacecraft passes Pluto. They say they will be updating the map as new data is obtained, so save it in your ‘My Places’ and keep checking back.

Pluto as seen using Google Earth.

We have in the past shown you how to see Google Earth as other planets such as Mercury and even as the Sun.

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