New Horizons makes historic Pluto flyby

To celebrate New Horizons' close encounter with Pluto at 7:49 a.m. ET, NASA released the stunning last image taken by the spacecraft before its flyby. (NASA)​

We've made it to Pluto by NASA's calculations, the last stop on a planetary tour of the solar system a half-century in the making.

The moment of closest approach for the New Horizons spacecraft came around 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday, culminating an epic journey from planet Earth that took 9 1/2 years and spanned more than 4.8 billion kilometres (3 billion miles).

"This is truly a hallmark in human history," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's science mission chief. "It's been an incredible voyage."

Based on everything NASA knows, New Horizons was straight on course for the historic encounter, sweeping within 12,500 kilometres (7,800 miles) of Pluto at 50,000 kilometres per hour (31,000 mph.) It actually happened 72 seconds earlier and about 64 kilometres (40 miles) closer than anticipated.

New Horizons has obtained impressive new images of Pluto and its large moon Charon that highlight their compositional diversity. The images, whose colours are exaggerated, were taken July 13 at 3:38 am ET, a day before the spacecraft's historic flyby. New Horizons is expected to confirm the flyby was successful around 9:02 p.m. ET. (NASA)​

But official confirmation of the flyby isn't due until Tuesday night, 13 nerve-racking hours later. That's because NASA wants New Horizons taking pictures of Pluto, its jumbo moon Charon and its four little moons during this critical time, not gabbing to Earth.

You can watch LIVE here starting 8:30 p.m. ET.

NASA expects to hear from the spacecraft at around 9:02 p.m. ET, and will be holding a media briefing at 9:30 p.m.




Cosmic coincidence

In a cosmic coincidence, the encounter occurred 50 years after Mariner 4's flyby of Mars that yielded the first close-up pictures of the red planet.

"I think it's fitting that on the 50th anniversary we complete the initial reconnaissance of the planets with the exploration of Pluto," said principal scientist Alan Stern.

New Horizons, which is the size of a baby grand piano, is thought to have come within 12,500 kilometres of Pluto this morning. (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)
​

NASA aired the moment that, according to their calculations, New Horizons completed the flyby. They broadcast live from their Laurel, Maryland flight operations centre at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, the spacecraft's developer and manager.

Inside "countdown central", hundreds jammed together to share in the final minutes, including the two children of the late American astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh. Tombaugh's ashes are aboard the spacecraft and will be the first to leave the solar system.

NASA staff celebrated the New Horizons mission to Pluto Tuesday at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, site of the mission operations centre. (Steven D'Souza/CBC)​

The crowd waved U.S. flags and counted down the seconds, screaming, cheering and applauding. Chants of "USA!" broke out.

The United States is now the only nation to visit every single planet in the solar system. Pluto was No. 9 in the lineup when New Horizons departed Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2006 to shed light on the mysterious icy world, but was demoted seven months later to dwarf status. Scientists in charge of the $720 million US mission, as well as NASA officials, hope the new observations will restore Pluto's honour.


'Stay tuned'

At a news conference afterward, Grunsfeld, Stern and mission operations manager Alice Bowman unveiled a picture of Pluto taken just Monday. The icy, impacted world — a fusion of peach and brassy colours with bright spots at points northward, including the now-famous heart, and darker areas around the equator — drew oohs and aahs.

The planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, cautioned everyone to "stay tuned" until New Horizons phones home Tuesday night. Only then will anyone know whether the spacecraft survived its passage through the Pluto system, five moons included.

"Hopefully it did, and we're counting on that," Stern told journalists. "But there's a little bit of drama because this is true exploration. New Horizons is flying into the unknown."

Link to the article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/new-horizons-makes-historic-pluto-flyby-1.3150704​

 

Ya, pretty amazing

 

Pluto, there's a heart shape mass there

 

Yup!

I saw this article today. Really interesting!