After a journey of nine and a half years through the Solar System, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto today, about 7,750 miles (12,470 km) above the dwarf planet’s surface.
Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 km) from the dwarf planet’s surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto on July 14. The color image has been combined with lower-resolution color information from the Ralph instrument that was acquired earlier on July 13. This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the ‘heart,’ which measures around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across. The heart’s diameter is about the same distance as from Denver to Chicago, in America’s heartland. The heart borders darker equatorial terrains, and the mottled terrain to its east (right) are complex. However, even at this resolution, much of the heart’s interior appears remarkably featureless-possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
New Horizons currently is in data-gathering mode and not in contact with flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physical Laboratory.
The mission scientists are waiting to find out whether the spacecraft ‘phones home,’ transmitting a series of status updates that indicate the probe survived the flyby and is in good health.
The ‘call’ is expected today shortly after 9 p.m. EST (6 p.m. PST, 1 a.m. GMT on July 15, 3 a.m. CET on July 15, 6:30 a.m. IST on July 15, 11 a.m. AEST on July 15).
The Pluto story began only in 1930 when young Clyde Tombaugh was tasked to look for Planet X, theorized to exist beyond the orbit of Neptune. He discovered a faint point of light that we now see as a complex and fascinating world.
“Pluto was discovered just 85 years ago by a farmer’s son from Kansas, inspired by a visionary from Boston, using a telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona,” said Dr John Grunsfeld of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
“Today, science takes a great leap observing the Pluto system up close and flying into a new frontier that will help us better understand the origins of the Solar System.”
“The exploration of Pluto and its moons by New Horizons represents the capstone event to 50 years of planetary exploration by NASA and the United States,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
“Once again we have achieved a historic first. The United States is the first nation to reach Pluto, and with this mission has completed the initial survey of our Solar System, a remarkable accomplishment that no other nation can match.”
“I’m delighted at this latest accomplishment by NASA, another first that demonstrates once again how the United States leads the world in space,” added John Holdren, assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“After nearly 15 years of planning, building, and flying the New Horizons spacecraft across the Solar System, we’ve reached our goal. The bounty of what we’ve collected is about to unfold,” said Dr Glen Fountain of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physical Laboratory, a manager for the New Horizons mission.
