As a late GenX / Early Millennial, Pluto will always be a planet in my heart.

Whether it’s a planet or a dwarf or something else entirely, though, you can close your eyes twice a day here and be one with another rock floating far out in space.

Pluto is 3.6 billion million miles away from the sun.

Since Earth is 40x the distance between the sun and Earth, the light that reaches Pluto is obviously significantly less than we experience here. Even at the brightest point in the day there, the sun is about 1/900th of what it is on Earth.

You don’t have to use your imagination to know what it’s like at that time of the day there, because we experience the same thing here – every day, just before sunrise, and just before sunset.

That’s when NASA says “Pluto Time” happens here on Earth.

You can figure out when that will happen in your area by using NASA’s official calculator. All you’ll need are your coordinates, and the next time the sun is about to rise or set, you’ll be able to close your eyes and imagine you’re wayyyyyy out there in the Milky Way.

So go out there and experience the world like you’re on another dwarf planet!