{"id":10977,"date":"2015-07-14T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10977"},"modified":"2015-07-14T12:00:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T16:00:57","slug":"new-horizons-flies-by-pluto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10977","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons flies by Pluto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Horizons<\/a> probe made its\u00a0close fly-by pass of Pluto this morning:<\/p>\n

NASA’s Three-Billion-Mile Journey to Pluto Reaches Historic Encounter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft is at Pluto.<\/p>\n

After a decade-long journey through our solar system, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto Tuesday, about 7,750 miles above the surface \u2014 roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India \u2014 making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth.<\/p>\n

\"Pluto_LORRI_FULLFRAME_COLOR\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015 when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft\u2019s 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 \u201cheart,\u201d which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across. 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\u2019s interior appears remarkably featureless\u2014possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes.<\/em>
\nCredits: NASA\/APL\/SwRI<\/em><\/p>\n

This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the \u201cheart,\u201d which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across. 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\u2019s interior appears remarkably featureless\u2014possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m delighted at this latest accomplishment by NASA, another first that demonstrates once again how the United States leads the world in space,\u201d said John Holdren, assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. \u201cNew Horizons is the latest in a long line of scientific accomplishments at NASA, including multiple missions orbiting and exploring the surface of Mars in advance of human visits still to come; the remarkable Kepler mission to identify Earth-like planets around stars other than our own; and the DSCOVR satellite that soon will be beaming back images of the whole Earth in near real-time from a vantage point a million miles away. As New Horizons completes its flyby of Pluto and continues deeper into the Kuiper Belt, NASA’s multifaceted journey of discovery continues.”<\/p>\n