NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has finally reached the planet formerly know as Pluto (now considered a icy dwarf planet). New Horizons left Earth back on January 19, 2006 and finally arrived today!
Here is the blurb from the NASA fact sheet:
New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and is conducting a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons that started in early 2015. Pluto closest approach occurs on July 14, 2015. If NASA approves an extended mission, the spacecraft could head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit. Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies…
Generally, New Horizons seeks to understand where Pluto and its moons “fit in” with the other objects in the solar system, such as the inner rocky planets (Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury) and the outer gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, belong to a third category known as “ice dwarfs.” They have solid surfaces but, unlike the terrestrial planets, a significant portion of their mass is icy material. Using Hubble Space Telescope images, New Horizons team members have discovered four previously unknown moons of Pluto: Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. A close-up look at these worlds from a spacecraft promises to tell an incredible story about the origins and outskirts of our solar system. New Horizons also will explore – for the first time – how ice dwarf planets like Pluto and Kuiper Belt bodies have evolved over time” (http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nh-fact-sheet-2015_0.pdf).
Here is New Horizons and its path (images from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nh-fact-sheet-2015_0.pdf):
Here is wonderful new photo of Pluto released today (image from NASA http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Planets&IM_ID=20233)
Also traveling with New Horizons are nine objects – such as a stamp and the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – who discovered Pluto, are in a 2-inch aluminum capsule inscribed with these words: “Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system’s ‘third zone.’ Adelle and Muron’s boy, Patricia’s husband, Annette and Alden’s father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997)” (http://www.timescolonist.com/astronomer-s-ashes-nearing-pluto-icy-world-he-discovered-quarters-stamp-also-on-spacecraft-1.1997909?utm_content=buffer9141e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.1OVsDst1.dpuf)
Needless to say that then NASA connected to New Horizons (I was watching live online) to say that it was working the Internet, Twitter, and NASA went a bit crazy!
The live signal can be seen here: http://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
And a few Tweets from around the galaxy (Tweets from @NASA, @NASANewHorizons, @SarcasticRover, @POTUS, @WilliamShatner, and @StephenAtHome)
