American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, the ninth planet in our solar system, on February 18, 1930. Many key questions about Pluto, it's moon Charon, and the outer fringes of our solar system await close-up observations.
American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, the ninth planet in our solar system, on February 18, 1930. Many key questions about Pluto, its moon Charon, and the outer fringes of our solar system await close-up observations.
A proposed NASA mission called New Horizons, depicted in the artist’s concept above, would use miniature cameras, radio science experiments, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and space plasma experiments to study Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto’s atmosphere in detail.Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute