The NASA New Horizons spacecraft had its closest encounter with Pluto on Tuesday after a nine-a-half-year journey to the dwarf planet.
YES! After over 9 years & 3+ billion miles, @NASANewHorizons #PlutoFlyby was at 7:49am ET. http://t.co/Czrvonxugd pic.twitter.com/aSucgORofT
— NASA (@NASA) July 14, 2015
NASA tweeted a “sneak peek” view of Pluto, a stunning color image captured Monday afternoon as the New Horizons spacecraft closed in on the dwarf planet and its large moon Charon. The photo, taken while New Horizons was still 476,000 miles from Pluto, shows the large heart-shaped region seen in earlier images with hints of eroded impact craters and stark brightness variations across its salmon-colored surface.
Hello #Pluto! We’re at closest approach. Congrats to all! Follow our story & view new images using #PlutoFlyby. pic.twitter.com/8JVlJrcUkY
— NASA New Horizons (@NASANewHorizons) July 14, 2015
New Horizons was expected to pass within about 7,500 miles of Pluto at 7:50 a.m. EDT. But as planned, the spacecraft currently is out of contact with Earth as it works through a complex sequence of commands to train its cameras and other instruments on Pluto and Charon during the critical close-approach phase of the encounter.
