A closer look at Pluto
In just less than one month, the New Horizons spacecraft will make its closest approach to the dwarf planet Pluto, 7,5-billion kilometres from Earth. New Horizons will also venture into the Kuiper Belt, a relic of solar system formation. New Horizons launched on 19 January 2006; it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and is conducting a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons that started in early 2015. The closest approach to Pluto will occur on 14 July 2015, after which it could head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least 1-billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit.