Friday, January 20, 2006

A Visit to Pluto

New Horizons, NASA's latest planetary probe, lifted off yesterday, headed for Pluto by way of Jupiter. It will pass Jupiter in about a year, getting a gravity boost, then arrive at Pluto in July, 2015 for a short flyby followed by a tour of the Kuiper Belt.

Barring intervening changes in official terminology, Pluto will be the last of the nine planets to be visited. Should be interesting.

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