Pluto Views. We got an amazing view of the dwarf planet in July when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by, and sky-watchers can still get a good glimpse of this distant world through backyard telescopes this week.
Late night on Monday, look for Pluto nestled with the southern constellation Sagittarius, which is now visible late nights in the southern horizon for those in the mid-northern latitudes.
But be aware that Pluto remains a difficult observing challenge. Lying 3 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) from Earth at the fringes of the solar system, it shines at a meager 14.1 magnitude and looks like a faint star. That means backyard sky-watchers need, at a minimum, a telescope with an 8-inch diameter mirror to glimpse the faint world.