description New Horizons Overview
The New Horizons mission is an active NASA space probe studying the outer solar system. Launched in 2006, it achieved a historic flyby of Pluto in 2015 providing unprecedented images and data about the dwarf planet’s surface and atmosphere. Subsequently, New Horizons conducted a close encounter with Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt object, furthering our understanding of these distant celestial bodies. This mission is valuable for planetary scientists and astronomers seeking to learn more about the formation and evolution of our solar system.
help New Horizons FAQ
What did New Horizons discover during its Pluto flyby?
The 2015 flyby revealed mountains of water ice, layered haze, and the vast nitrogen-ice plain Sputnik Planitia. It also mapped Pluto's moons and returned the first detailed close-range images of Charon.
Did New Horizons orbit Pluto?
No, it flew past Pluto at high speed because it lacked the fuel needed to brake into orbit. Its closest approach occurred on July 14, 2015, after a journey of more than nine years.
What object did New Horizons visit after Pluto?
It flew past the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth on January 1, 2019. Images showed a contact-binary body with two joined lobes, offering evidence about how small planetary building blocks formed.
How does New Horizons send data from so far away?
The spacecraft communicates through NASA's Deep Space Network using a high-gain antenna. Because signals are weak and take hours to cross the solar system, downloading the complete Pluto data set took well over a year.
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