Coming attractions: 1st close-up pictures of Pluto

[Buster's Uncle]

Coming attractions: 1st close-up pictures of Pluto
Associated Press
By MARCIA DUNN  4 hours ago



This July 13, 2015 image provided by NASA shows Pluto, seen from the New Horizons spacecraft. 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, Fla, on Jan. 19, 2006 (NASA via AP)



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — If you think Tuesday's flyby of Pluto was big, just wait until the pictures start rolling in.

That's the word from scientists who plan to release the long-awaited images Wednesday afternoon. They'll be Pluto's first-ever close-ups.

New Horizons already has provided the best pictures ever taken of Pluto, a dwarf planet way out on the edge of the solar system, 3 billion miles from Earth. Those views came during the spacecraft's final approach toward Pluto.

But the best highest-resolution pictures were snapped as New Horizons swept within 7,700 miles of Pluto on Tuesday morning. Scientists didn't know until Tuesday night — when New Horizons phoned home — that the unprecedented encounter was a success.

It will take 16 months to beam down all the data.



This Monday, July 13, 2015 combination image released by NASA shows Pluto, left, and its moon, Charon, with differences in surface material and features depicted in exaggerated colors made by using different filters on a camera aboard the New Horizons spacecraft. In this composite false-color image, the apparent distance between the two bodies has also been reduced. (NASA/APL/SwRI via AP)


https://news.yahoo.com/coming-attractions-1st-close-pictures-pluto-171723793.html

[Geo]

I thought the US visited every planet in the Solar System already in 2006?

[Buster's Uncle]

And Voyager has finally left about once a year for a decade.

[Geo]

You really think they'll find some object massive enough to be considered a 'planet' in the outer regions of the Solar System?

[Buster's Uncle]

I've no idea - never been there.