Our knowledge of Pluto (and the near vicinity) will increase tremendously as New Horizons closes in. So far all we have are some blurry pics from Hubble.
Oddly enough, I might've missed it, but I've never seen too many Science Fiction stories that even mention Pluto except Haldeman's "Forever War".On Dec. 6, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft woke up from hibernation more than 2.9 billion miles away from Earth. That puts it just over 162 million miles from Pluto, the focus of its mission -- the very last planet in our solar system to be visited by a spacecraft. New Horizons left Earth nearly 9 years ago, and the craft has spent almost two-thirds of that time in one of 18 hibernation periods designed to keep its systems operational. But even though wake-ups have become routine, this one was special: It's the last time the spacecraft needs to wake up before it gets to Pluto.
And what will it find there? We just don't know, and that's the most exciting part...
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is awake and almost ready to change our view of Pluto forever
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Originally Posted by K7SGJ
