New Horizons spacecraft at Pluto, illustration. New Horizons launched from Earth on 19 January 2006 and took nine years to reach Pluto, arriving mid-2
New Horizons spacecraft at Pluto, illustration. New Horizons launched from Earth on 19 January 2006 and took nine years to reach Pluto, arriving mid-2015. Pluto (left), some 6 billion kilometres from the Sun (upper right), had never before been visited by a spacecraft from Earth. It is a small rocky, icy world with a thin atmosphere and a moon called Charon. The spacecraft used cameras and scientific equipment to gather data, sending it back to Earth with its large () dish antenna. The scientific instruments include visible and infrared cameras, an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer, two spectrometers, a radio occultation experiment, and an interplanetary dust counter. New Horizons then continued onwards, travelling beyond Pluto to study other objects in the Kuiper Belt.
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Photo credit: © GREGOIRE CIRADE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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