NASA'S Mission to Pluto

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is "awake" and being prepared for the farthest planetary encounter in history – a New Year's Day 2019 flyby of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) Legendary explorers and visionaries, real and fictitious, are among those immortalized in the first set of official surface-feature names for Pluto's moon Charon. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) Map projection of Charon, the largest of Pluto's five moons, annotated with its first set of official feature names. With a diameter of about 755 miles, the Texas-sized moon is one of largest known objects in the Kuiper Belt,...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) As New Horizons continues exploring the unknown, the mission team has selected a nickname for its next flyby target in the outer reaches of the solar system. With public input, the team has chosen "Ultima Thule" for the Kuiper...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft recently turned its telescopic camera toward a field of stars, snapped an image – and made history. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) During its extended mission in the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons is aiming to observe at least two-dozen Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), dwarf planets and Centaurs, former KBOs in unstable orbits that cross the orbits of the giant...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) During its extended mission in the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons is aiming to observe at least two-dozen Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), dwarf planets and Centaurs, former KBOs in unstable orbits that cross the orbits of the giant...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) For a short time, this New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) frame of the galactic open star cluster NGC 3532 (known as the Wishing Well), taken Dec. 5, 2017, was the farthest image ever made by a spacecraft,...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Year's celebration to usher in 2019 will include an event like no other – more than four billion miles from Earth. In just under a year, the New Horizons spacecraft will buzz by the most primitive and most distant object...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Year's celebration to usher in 2019 will include an event like no other – more than four billion miles from Earth. In just under a year, the New Horizons spacecraft will buzz by the most primitive and most distant object...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons team briefed the media at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, covering key elements of the Kuiper Belt extended mission. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) New data on 2014 MU69 hints that the Kuiper Belt object might have company: a small moon. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons team briefed the media at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, covering key elements of the Kuiper Belt extended mission. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons team briefed the media at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, covering key elements of the Kuiper Belt extended mission. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons team briefed the media at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, covering key elements of the Kuiper Belt extended mission. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s Pluto...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) On three occasions in June and July 2017, New Horizons mission team members attempted to track a small, distant Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69, as it passed in front of a star an event known as an occultation. The colored lines...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) On three occasions in June and July 2017, New Horizons mission team members attempted to track a small, distant Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69, as it passed in front of a star an event known as an occultation. The colored lines...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...

By Mike.Buckley@jhuapl.edu (M. Buckley) The New Horizons spacecraft carried out a short engine burn today that refined its course toward 2014 MU69, the ancient Kuiper Belt object it will fly by a little more than a year from now. ...read more Read more here:: NASA’s...