PLUTO Our Last Frontier

Pluto has long interested astronomers but it has never been explored by space probes… until now

It has been on a breathtaking journey 4.8 billion kilometres (3 billion miles) long. It has taken nineand-a-half years. And it has cost $700 million (£460 million). But for patient astronomers working on the New Horizons mission, the spacecraft which is about to make the first-ever reconnaissance of Pluto is more than worth its half-ton weight in gold. Launched on 19 January 2006, New Horizons is set to spend this summer flying by Pluto and its five known moons. It is already the closest man-made object to Pluto, but very soon it will be within a space whisker and scientists are very excited about the possible discoveries it will enable them to make. “Imagine the explorers of old who crossed the oceans,” says Dr Alan Stern, the principal investigator of…

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All About Space Tour of the Universe (Digital) - 1 Issue, All About Space Tour of the Universe 4th Edition

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