New Horizons: Pluto probe enters key flyby phase

New Horizons is the first mission to the most mysterious object of our solar system — Pluto. It is about to reach Pluto to make a flyby of the farthest and smallest object. Scientists as well as people who are interested in space exploration are watching the New Horizons Pluto Flyby mission with bated breath.

It is expected that thanks to the mission we’ll get a few answers to the questions that we were all curious about. The probe will settle a decade-long debate on Pluto’s size and investigate not only Pluto but also its five moons: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra.

Most scientists compare the significance of this mission to Voyager 1 and 2 due to its role in exploring new horizons of our mankind.

This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before Tuesday’s moment of closest approach. The LORRI picture was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft at about 4 p.m. ET on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. This view has been colorized using imagery from New Horizons’ RALPH imager. NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI

Charon, Pluto’s largest moon

New Horizons image of Pluto’s largest moon Charon, taken July 11. Credits: NASA/ JHUAPL/ SWRI.

Pluto is also visible in the sky tonight, although you will need a telescope to see it . Use Star Walk to find Pluto in the night sky.

Pluto as seen with a 12″ S/C telescope (14.3 mag.) on July 10, 06:16 UT. Photo by Efrain Morales, of Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe.