I Heart Pluto Festival 2023
Flagstaff, AZ — February 18 - 20, 2023
2023-02-18 18:00:00
Tickets
  • Home of Pluto
  • Schedule
  • VIP
  • Pluto Pub Crawl
  • Sponsors
  • About
  • News
  • Home of Pluto
  • Schedule
  • VIP
  • Pluto Pub Crawl
  • Sponsors
  • About
  • News

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!

Buy Tickets

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.

Learn More
Keynote

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.

Learn more about Nicole Buy tickets to the Night of Discovery
SCHEDULE

The Schedule At A Glance

Festival Days at Lowell
VIP Package
10am - Noon

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!

Read more

Saturday
10am - 10pm

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

Sunday
10am - 10pm

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 Simon Cunningham
Food Trucks
Face Painting
Scavenger Hunt
Livestream Event

Monday
10am - 10pm

Enjoy all-day festivities at Lowell Observatory to celebrate I Heart Pluto! You can expect:

Science Demos
Science Talks
Pluto Activity Station/Science Demos
Live Music by Eric Caroffino
Food Trucks
Face Painting
Scavenger Hunt
Livestream Event

Special Events
6pm — 7pm
Mother Road Brewing
Thursday Feb 16: Cheers to Pluto! Beer Unveiling and Astronomy on Tap

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.

Mother Road Brewing
Pluto Pub Crawl
Downtown Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb. 17 at 6pm

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.

Downtown Flagstaff, Arizona
Tombaugh Telescope Dedication
The Rotunda at Lowell Observatory
Feb 18 at 12:30pm

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.

The Rotunda at Lowell Observatory
Night of Discovery
The Orpheum Theatre
Feb 18, 6-9pm

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.

The Orpheum Theatre
Nicole Stott768px-Nicole_Stott_v2
Livestream Events
7pm on YouTube

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!

See Our Sponsors
Quick Links
  • Home of Pluto
  • 2023 Schedule
  • Sponsors
  • VIP
  • Tickets
  • News
  • About

I ♥ Pluto Festival
Flagstaff, AZ — February 18 - 20, 2023

Recent Posts
  • Pluto Pub Crawl
  • Meet our Out-of-this-World Community Partners
  • Nicole Stott Headlines I Heart Pluto Festival
  • I♥Pluto Festival 2022 | Meet Our Out-of-this-World Community Partners
  • A Night of Discovery: Keynote Event of Lowell Observatory’s 3rd Annual I Heart Pluto Festival
Twitter Hightlights
  • Join us tonight for Astronomy on Tap! 🤩 https://t.co/KHIOfvZKkY
    1 day ago
  • RT @astronomyontap: Three #AstroOnTap events tonight! 1️⃣ @aotbonn at Fiddler’s 🇩🇪 2️⃣ @AoTStateCollege at @HVBCBeer 3️⃣ AoT #Flagst…
    1 day ago
© 2022 Lowell Observatory