Space & Astronomy

Pluto spacecraft spots Charon for first time

By T.K. Randall
July 12, 2013 ·  11 comments

Image Credit: NASA Now more than seven years in to its epic 9-and-a-half year journey to the icy world of Pluto, New Horizons has finally caught a glimpse of the planet's largest moon, Charon. Still little more than a spec on the photograph, the image nonetheless represents a major milestone in the mission. With 550 million miles still to go it will take New Horizons another two years to reach its destination.

"We're excited to have our first pixel on Charon," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern. "But two years from now, near closest approach, we'll have almost a million pixels on Charon – and I expect we'll be about a million times happier too!"

The new pictures can be viewed - here.[!gad]Now more than seven years in to its epic 9-and-a-half year journey to the icy world of Pluto, New Horizons has finally caught a glimpse of the planet's largest moon, Charon. Still little more than a spec on the photograph, the image nonetheless represents a major milestone in the mission. With 550 million miles still to go it will take New Horizons another two years to reach its destination.

"We're excited to have our first pixel on Charon," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern. "But two years from now, near closest approach, we'll have almost a million pixels on Charon – and I expect we'll be about a million times happier too!"

The new pictures can be viewed - here.

Source: jhuapl.edu | Comments (11)

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