EXPLICIT MATERIAL

Alex brings you the information you should know as New Horizons makes its approach to Pluto and it's moons. Alex explains the history of why Pluto became classified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006.

Learn a little bit about the mission & what to expect during the time until New Horizons reaches its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. Also, Alex goes over the different data the science team is planned to gather during their time at Pluto.

An artist's drawing shows the New Horizons spacecraft as it nears Pluto. The moon Charon is in the distance

Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwes

In 2005, this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was used to identify two new moons orbiting Pluto. Pluto is in the center. The moon Charon is just below it. The newly discovered moons, Nix and Hydra, are to the right of Pluto and Charon.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST

A drawing of the solar system shows Pluto's tilted orbit. Pluto's orbital path angles 17 degrees above the line, or plane, where the eight planets orbit.

Image Credit: 

NASA

Topics in this Episode:

• Pluto, Why is Pluto a dwarf planet
• Is Pluto being reconsidered a planet?
• New Horizons mission (start and voyage details)
• Geminid Meteor Showers 2014
• What classifies a planet?
• AU (the International Astronomical Union)
• "Disgruntled scientists"

• Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• The temperature changes on the surface of Pluto
• The rocket launch system for the mission
• Jupiter Gravity Assist
• What happens during a 9 year mission
• History of the Pluto Keiper Express
• Cassini, Saturn, Pluto-Charon encounter
• Infrared & ultraviolet spectra

 

• Atmosphere
• Charon
• Styx
• Nix
• Kerberos
• Hydra
• Kuiper Belt
• Kuiper Belt Object (KBO)
• (Possible) extended mission details

Space Links:

• http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/index.php
• http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons/on-plutos-doorstep-new-horizons-spacecraft-awakens-for-encounter/#.VI-mj4eMpJA
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/index.html#.VI-O8IeMpJA
• Kuiper Belt (NASA) Explanation - via youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXoZwERokmI
• Kuiper Belt Encounters by New Horizons http://vimeo.com/45883622