The edge of the solar system; New Horizon finally reaches Pluto

   After a long, anxious wait the probe. New Horizon has finally travelled through the solar system finally reaching the outer most visible body; Pluto. This is an amazing feat to the space exploration industry as new questions will be answered about Pluto and it's moon, Charon and the outer-workings of the solar system we live in. New facts have been sent from the probe about the characteristics of the dwarf planet. Measurements on the probe's instruments indicate that the celestial body must be two-thirds the size of Earth's moon. Ice may also be present deep inside the dwarf planet. This flyby is an exceptional way of learning about Pluto since it is very far for ground telescopes to see precisely.

The dwarf planet, Pluto

   Cliffs, canyons and chasms pave the planet's surface with exotic beauty. At the north pole there is an ice cap with signatures of chemicals such as methane and nitrogen. Revealing a new world is just another step in space exploration however this amazing accomplishment could not have been achieved by just pure luck. Dangers lurk in any corner of the space realm; small dust particles the size of a grain could easily obliterate the spacecraft to nothing. Along with its cargo and instruments the probe also carries the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh. He is famous for discovering Pluto but he thought that he had discovered another planet however after the probe was launched in 2006 the astronomers at the International Astronomical Union decided to downgrade the icy body to a dwarf planet.

An artist's impression of Pluto's surface.

   The probe has travelled 4.8 billion kilometres on its 9 year journey to Pluto and the edge of our solar system. Images will be taken several times of the dwarf planet as well as its moons, Charon(the main one), Hydra, Nix, Styx and Kerberos. New evidence of the icy world may even surprise scientists that life could exist anywhere in the solar system because life is very adaptable to its climate.


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