The NASA probe New Horizons launched in 2006 and has traveled nearly 3 billion miles since then averaging 726,000 miles a day. The probe took the first ever color photo of Pluto and its largest moon Charon and is expected to reach Pluto on July 14th.
The probe will send back much clearer images and we will begin to learn more about Pluto and other dwarf planets. New Horizons' principlal investigator Alan Stern said this is purely for exploration and learning more about what is out there. Pluto was discovered in 1930 and thought to be the smallest of all the planets. But scientist have since reviewed that status and determined Pluto is a dwarf planet. By discovering more about Pluto it will shed a light on the third zone of the solar system beyong the rocky planets and gas giants. This third zone is called Kaiper belts and contains many small planets and is known for producing comets such as Halley's Comet which orbits the sun every 75 years. New Horizons will use its array of cameras and other instruments to phtograph the planet and its moons and collect information about its surface and atmosphere. Stern says that this encounter is set to be as storied as that of the Voyager mission in 1980s. The exploration of space is amazing. We can learn so much more about what is out there. The fact that we can collect information about the surface and atmospherre of Pluto by just flying by is absouletely mind blowing. Also that this probe can travel 726,000 miles a day is astonishing. This can open our eyes to a whole new unkown region of our solar system and can be beneficial in learning new things.
cool!!
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