This is what Pluto and Charon look like from 3,600,000,000 kilometers. The picture was snapped by NASA’s New Horizons probe which expects to flyby the planet in 2015. Expected future highpoints for the mission are:
- June 9, 2008 -- Pass Saturn’s orbit.
- March 5, 2011 -- Pass Uranus’ orbit.
- August 1, 2014 -- Pass Neptune’s orbit.
- July 14, 2015 -- Flyby of Pluto around 11:59 UTC at 11096 km, 13.780 km/s
- July 14, 2015 -- Flyby of Charon around 12:13 UTC at 26927 km, 13.875 km/s
- 2016-2020 -- possible flyby of one or more Kuiper Belt objects.
Set your alarms accordingly.
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This from JPL:
"Shorty after 9:03 p.m. Pacific Time, the Cassini spacecraft began sending data to Earth following a close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. During closest approach, Cassini successfully passed only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface of the tiny moon.
“Maybe some people don't feel scared when they think about comets and supernovas. Maybe they think it is wonderful.” -Lydia Netzer