Space & Astronomy

New Horizons approaches Pluto after 9 years

By T.K. Randall
January 5, 2015

Image: Artist's Concept of New Horizons
Credit: (PD) NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute Launched back in 2006, the New Horizons probe has spent the better part of its 1,873-day journey hibernating to preserve its electrical components for when it arrives at its destination.

Pluto itself is a rather mysterious world - discovered in 1930 it was long considered to be the ninth planet in the solar system until the discovery of several other similarly sized objects saw it demoted to the new classification of dwarf planet.Up until now studies of this tiny world have been limited to what can be determined through telescopes so any pictures returned by New Horizons will be the first close-up images ever taken.

The rendez-vous is scheduled to take place in July however the probe is now close enough that within the next few weeks it should be able to start returning some impressive photographs.

"For decades we thought Pluto was this odd little body on the planetary outskirts; now we know it's really a gateway to an entire region of new worlds in the Kuiper Belt, and New Horizons is going to provide the first close-up look at them," said project scientist Dr Hal Weaver.

Source: Sky News

Tags: New Horizons, Pluto