Props to you, Pluto. You are officially the cutest little thing I've ever seen.
Nearly fifteen years ago, NASA backed out on the idea that Pluto was to be considered a planet, and dumped the plans to further study the "moon" right into the trash. Scientists were coming to the realization that they have missed the prime opportunity for research, since Pluto had began to embark on its orbit back around the solar system. It had already been at its closest point to our planet and wouldn't be back for another 200 years or so. No human scientists on Earth were willing to hang around for the next two centuries and wait for it to return. Honestly, can you blame them?
As Pluto moved farther and farther away from us, NASA worried that the planet would become too cold and too dangerous to further study, not to mention entirely too expensive. Besides, Pluto was no longer even a planet in their eyes, much too small to be categorized along side its giant neighbors, such as Jupiter and Saturn.
Fortunately for the little guy, there were people out there who believed in Pluto's potential. Scientists worked hard and fast to develop a cheap and easy plan to send New Horizons into space, a special space craft with its sights on a rendezvous to the outer edges of our solar system. Leaving Earth in January of 2006, New Horizons overcame doubt, mission cancellations, computer glitches and failures, and just about everything in between.
Yet here we are, nine years later with images of what once seemed to be the impossible. This past February, the space craft captured this image:
This is Pluto and its moon, Charon, magnified four times for better visibility.
Here Pluto and Charon are again, this taken on June 30, 2015. The images are obviously a lot closer and a lot more clear, sharpening as New Horizons grew closer:
And this image, taken on July 11th, shows the immense speed and accuracy of the space craft and its camera. Amazing how much of a difference 12 days can make, huh?
Recently, Pluto has become a nationwide phenomenon for its level of absolute adorable-ness. In this image, the craters and terrain on the planet create the image of two arms and hands holding a heart on Pluto's surface. How can you not love a planet with a big heart?? Not to mention a heart that measures 1,000 miles wide!
Thank you, NASA, for bringing this little cutie back into our lives.
