14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency announced recently that their New Horizons spacecraft, one of the fastest probes ever constructed, is getting closer to its destination, the dwarf planet Pluto.
The orbiter will be traveling too fast to enter orbit around Pluto when it arrives at its location, far beyond the orbit of Neptune. Instead, the spacecraft will be taking a large number of pictures as it zooms past the distant object.
Astronomers say that it is entirely possible the probe will find new moons, except the four that are already known to orbit the dwarf planet, as well as potential dust rings. Though Pluto is located relatively close to Earth, it is very difficult to accurately identify moons around it, even with Hubble, PhysOrg reports.
New Horizons began its trek towards the planet back on January 19, 2006, when it launched into space aboard an Atlas V 551 delivery system, from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida.
The probe will begin studying Pluto in January 2015, using its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager to precisely establish the planet's location. Astronomers say that the degree of uncertainty related to Pluto's exact location is several thousand kilometers. The point of closest approach – some 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) will be reached in July 2015.