After traveling ~5b km over the past 9.5 years, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is within hours of its rendezvous with Pluto. Back in 2006, when the space probe was launched, Pluto was classified as the 9th planet in the solar system, and was known to have 3 moons. During the long journey to this distant icy world, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, 1 of many smaller bodies orbiting the sun, and another 2 moons were discovered. In 2007, New Horizons flew past Jupiter and its moons on the way to Pluto, capturing many spectacular images. On the morning of July 14, 2015, New Horizons will speed past the Pluto system at ~14 kilometers per second, making as many observations as possible. In the hours and days following, it will be sending the data to Earth, on its way to the Kuiper belt, with plans to target another smaller body sometime around 2018.

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