New Horizons
A NASA spacecraft launched in 2006 to study Pluto, its moons, and other objects in the Kuiper Belt. It performed a historic flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015, providing the first close-up images of the dwarf planet.
Source: nasa.gov
APODs including "New Horizons"
A Jupiter-Io Montage from New Horizons
08/01/2008
As the New Horizons spacecraft sweeps through the Solar System, it is taking breathtaking images of the planets. In February of last year, New Horizons passed Jupiter and the ever-active Jovian moon Io. In this montage, Jupiter was captured in three bands of infrared light making the Great Red Spot look white. Complex hurricane-like ovals, swirls, and planet-ringing bands are visible in Jupiter's complex atmosphere. Io is digitally superposed in natural color. Fortuitously, a plume was emanating from Io's volcano Tvashtar. Frost and sulfuric lava cover the volcanic moon, while red-glowing lava is visible beneath the blue sunlight-scattering plume. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft is on track to arrive at Pluto in 2015. Note: Meet sky enthusiasts, astro bloggers, and APOD editor RN in Austin tonight.