Probe Will Carry The Man Who Discovered Pluto To Pluto

The Man Who Discovered Pluto Is Going To Pluto

NASA's New Horizons probe has finally come within reach of the tiny planet Pluto where it'll begin studying the small ball of ice and its orbiting moons.

New Horizons is also carrying out a more sentimental mission which is to transport the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto in 1930.

Tombaugh could only dream of spaceflight back then but following his death in 1997, NASA decided to honour his wish of having his remains sent into space. Of course they went quite a bit further returning him to arguably his most significant find.

New Horizons launched in 2006 as scientists realised that any hope of studying Pluto's thick atmosphere was rapidly decreasing.

As Pluto increasingly moves further away from the Sun its atmosphere will start to freeze, changing irrevocably. New

New Horizons will study the planet's surface before this happens and then once the fly by is complete, carry on into the depths of outer space.

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