On July 14, 2015, a spacecraft flew by Pluto for the first time! NASA's New Horizons spacecraft spent 9.5 years making the 3-billion-mile journey to Pluto.
When it finally arrived, it took some amazing photos of the dwarf planet's surface. Most notably, the photos revealed that Pluto has a huge, heart-shaped plain, tall mountains and icy volcanoes. The mission also found that Pluto and its largest moon Charon are tidally locked, which means that Pluto's heart is always facing Charon, and the same side of Charon is always facing Pluto. It also seems to be borrowing some atmosphere from Pluto, which appears a big red spot on Charon's north pole.
When it finally arrived, it took some amazing photos of the dwarf planet's surface. Most notably, the photos revealed that Pluto has a huge, heart-shaped plain, tall mountains and icy volcanoes. The mission also found that Pluto and its largest moon Charon are tidally locked, which means that Pluto's heart is always facing Charon, and the same side of Charon is always facing Pluto. It also seems to be borrowing some atmosphere from Pluto, which appears a big red spot on Charon's north pole.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 2015, a spacecraft flew by Pluto for the very first time.
00:07NASA's New Horizons spacecraft spent nine and a half years making the three billion mile journey to Pluto.
00:13When it finally arrived, it took some amazing photos of the dwarf planet's surface.
00:17Most notably, the photos revealed that Pluto has a huge heart-shaped plain, tall mountains, and icy volcanoes.
00:23The mission also found that Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are tidally locked,
00:27which means that Pluto's heart is always facing Charon, and the same side of Charon is always facing Pluto.
00:32It also seems to be borrowing some atmosphere from Pluto, which appears as a big red spot on Charon's north pole.
00:38And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:41♪