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Innovation

Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

By Erin Carson July 14, 2015, 11:47 AM PDT

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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Context is everything

Image: NASA

Context is everything

Pluto is 4.67 billion miles from Earth, but thanks to NASA’s New Horizons mission, we’ve got a pretty crisp view of the dwarf planet.

If Pluto and its satellite Charon were to be placed near Earth, here’s how they’d compare in size.

Image: NASA
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Flying by

Image: NASA

Flying by

Here’s a rendering of New Horizons spacecraft making its flyby of Pluto. The real thing happened on July 14, 2015.

Image: NASA
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

REX Instrument

Image: NASA

REX Instrument

There are many instruments aboard New Horizons. REX is short for Radio Science Experiment. This instrument will measure atmospheric temperature and composition.

Image: NASA
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

SWAP Instrument

Image: NASA

SWAP Instrument

Also on board is the SWAP Instrument, which stands for Solar Winds Around Pluto. It will use those solar winds to measure the interactions between Pluto and Charon.

Image: NASA
pluto5.gif
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Ralph Instrument

Image: NASA

Ralph Instrument

Ralph is basically the camera, or “the mission’s main sense of sight,” according to the NASA website.

Image: NASA
pluto6.jpg
pluto6.jpg
Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Alice Instrument

Image: NASA

Alice Instrument

Alice is the ultraviolet imaging spectrometer. Its primary function is to “detect a variety of important atomic and molecular species in Pluto’s atmosphere, and to determine their relative abundances so that a complete picture of Pluto’s atmospheric composition,” according to NASA.

Image: NASA
pluto7.jpg
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

SDC Instrument

Image: NASA

SDC Instrument

This is the Student Dust Counter Instrument. It will collect information about the dust that actually hits the spacecraft. It was built by students at the University of Colorado.

Image: NASA
pluto8.jpg
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

LORRI Instrument

Image: NASA

LORRI Instrument

The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager is basically a high resolution imaging instrument.

Image: NASA
pluto9.jpg
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

A nine-year journey

Image: NASA

A nine-year journey

Way back in January 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft launched (aboard an Atlas V Rocket) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Image: NASA
pluto10.png
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

3D print your own New Horizons spacecraft

Image: NASA

3D print your own New Horizons spacecraft

NASA recently made available a downloadable file you can use to 3D print a model of the New Horizons spacecraft, so, not entirely sure why you’re still reading this.

Image: NASA
pluto11.png
pluto11.png
Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Millions of miles away

Image: NASA

Millions of miles away

This image, which was taken on July 12, comes from about 1.6 million miles away from Pluto.

Image: NASA
pluto12.png
pluto12.png
Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

Getting up close with Pluto

Image: NASA

Getting up close with Pluto

When the New Horizons Twitter account tweeted this image from the Pluto flyby, it got more than 37,000 retweets and 22,000 favorites within the first two hours.

Image: NASA
pluto13.jpg
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Photos: Taking a look at New Horizons’ journey to Pluto

There was much rejoicing

Image: NASA

There was much rejoicing

This was the scene among members of the New Horizons science team when the latest image of Pluto came in. The entirety of New Horizons’ mission will span 14 years.

Image: NASA
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By Erin Carson
Erin Carson is a Staff Reporter for CNET and a former Multimedia Editor for TechRepublic.
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