New Horizons - Pluto and Beyond

(Video) The Year of Pluto – New Horizons Documentary Brings Humanity Closer to the Edge of the Solar System

New Horizons – Pluto and Beyond

So, if you can’t see Pluto well enough from Earth telescopes, what do you do?  NASA said … send a probe to see.  And that’s what New Horizons is all about.

This documentary is a fascinating history of how Pluto was discovered, its moons, evidence that it was actually a double dwarf planet combo and more.

The hubble telescope was used in the mid 90’s to make the first direct images of Pluto, and in 2005, Hubble was used to show Pluto actually had 2 more moons than originally thought.  Turns out it was a genuine mini planetary system, not to mention one of the largest of a whole new class of objects called ice dwarf planets that make up what’s known as the Keiper belt.

At about the 11:20 mark, the 3rd zone of our solar system (the Keiper belt) is investigated.  And that’s the mission of New Horizons.  Simply fascinating and well worth a watch …