Three-Day Festival • Science Talks & Demos • Live Music • Food Trucks • and More
An Event 93 Years
in the making
CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF PLUTO’S DISCOVERY FEB 18-20, 2023
Show your love at the Home of Pluto in snowy Flagstaff, Arizona! Clyde Tombaugh discovered this icy world 93 years ago, on February 18, 1930
This festival will take place at Lowell Observatory with special events throughout the historic city of Flagstaff, Arizona. Buy tickets today!
ATTEND THE FESTIVAL
Your General Admission pass will get you all-day access to Lowell Observatory. Tickets to the Night of Discovery at the Orpheum are sold separately. VIP Packages also available!
SEE THE SCHEDULE
Science presentations, Night of Discovery, Pluto Pub Crawl, live music, beer, and more! Plan your weekend in Flagstaff at the I Heart Pluto Festival by checking out our full schedule page.
Meet Our Keynote Speaker at The Night of Discovery
Meet Astronaut Nicole Stott
At the Night of Discovery event on Feb. 18, get a chance to meet and hear stories from Nicole Stott; an astronaut, aquanaut, artist, mom, and now author of her first book Back to Earth ~ What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.
The Schedule At A Glance
Get a star-studded VIP experience at the 2023 I Heart Pluto Festival! A VIP ticket grants single-person admission to all IHP activities at Lowell Observatory and the Orpheum Theater.
Enjoy a special VIP tour of the observatory, followed by the historic dedication of the Clyde Tombaugh Telescope exhibit at the Rotunda Museum. Before the Night of Discovery event at the Orpheum Theater on the evening February 18, VIP guests will receive a free copy of keynote speaker and astronaut Nicole Stott’s book Back to Earth to bring to an exclusive meet and greet/book signing with the author herself, along with a copy of Clyde Tombaugh’s Lowell Observatory employment letter and a can of I Heart Pluto-themed beer from Mother Road Brewery. Book your all-access pass today!
Enjoy all-day festivities at Lowell Observatory to celebrate I Heart Pluto! You can expect:
Science Demos
Science Talks
Pluto Activity Station/Science Demos
Mother Road Custom Brew Beer
Live Music by Black Lemon
Food Trucks
Henna Artist
Face Painting
Scavenger Hunt
Enjoy a pre-Festival celebration at Mother Road Brewing Company, a local Flagstaff favorite! Mother Road will unveil its limited-edition beer, brewed exclusively for this year’s festival! Stick around for an Astronomy on Tap presentation and learn about Clyde Tombaugh’s handmade telescope, a precious historical artifact that will soon be on display in Lowell Observatory’s Rotunda Museum.
Astronomy on Tap program title:
Clyde Tombaugh’s Extraordinary 9-inch Telescope
Presenters:
Alden Tombaugh, retired banker and son of Clyde Tombaugh
Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory Historian & Public Information Office
Program Description:
In 1928, Clyde Tombaugh completed construction of his third telescope, a 9-inch reflector. He built this Frankenstein of telescopes from an array of materials from the family farm. The mounting includes parts from a cream separator, automobile axle, and farm equipment fly wheel, and the tube is made of material used in grain augers. Tombaugh also built a storm cellar that provided the still air necessary to test the quality of the instrument’s optics. The telescope is an important piece of astronomy history because it was drawings Tombaugh made with this instrument that led to him being hired at Lowell Observatory, where he would go on to discover Pluto.
Enjoy more pre-Festival fun by exploring Flagstaff’s Flagstaff’s finest pubs, bars, and brewhouses — in the shape of the Pluto symbol! After receiving a map of all participating destinations, you’ll be turned loose to enjoy historic downtown alongside fellow Pluto-lovers, and custom-made Pluto drinks and specials at all the stops. Along the way, you’ll find educators giving science talks, trivia, and more.
Maps will be available soon and located throughout downtown Flagstaff, at Lowell Observatory, and on the Pluto Pub Crawl page on this website.
See the dedication of the Tombaugh Telescope, a 9-inch instrument that Clyde Tombaugh hand-assembled in 1928 from scraps found around the family’s farm in Burdette, Kansas. Tombaugh family members, local dignitaries, and others will participate in this event.
NASA astronaut, aquanaut, and space artist Nicole Stott headlines an evening celebrating exploration and discovery. Stott creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflights and undersea adventures with her artwork to inspire people around the world.
Starting at 6pm, guests may enjoy a space art show by the International Association of Astronomical Artists, axe throwing courtesy of FlagTag, custom-crafted, Pluto-themed beer by Mother Road Brewing Company, and more. And don’t miss a free taste-testing of the new Starry lemon-lime soda by Pepsi.
Programming begins at 7pm. Lowell Observatory Historian Kevin Schindler will first relive Clyde Tombaugh’s day of discovering Pluto, 93 years ago on this very night. Then, Nicole Stott will share her inspirational story of exploring space.
After this program, Nicole Stott will sign copies of her book, Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission to Protect It. Copies of this book will be available for purchase at the Orpheum throughout the evening.
Sunday, Feb 19, 7pm: The Future of New Horizons: An Interview with Dr. Alan Stern
With Alan Stern, Planetary Scientist/New Horizons Mission Principal Investigator, Southwest Research Institute and Melissa Sevigny, Science Reporter at KNAU
Monday, Feb 20, 7pm: The Latest News from Pluto and Arrokath
With Alice Bowman, Engineer/New Horizons Mission Operations Manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
A special thank you to the Arizona Office of Tourism for the Visit Arizona Initiative (VAI) Grant, which helped support this incredible community-wide event. Thank you for supporting our mission and our community’s celebration of Pluto!