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After 9 years of flying in space, NASA ships took photos of Pluto

Let’s admire the most realistic images of Pluto captured by modern NASA satellites.

On the afternoon of July 13 New York time (around 3 a.m. July 14 Vietnam time), NASA’s New Horizons probe made history by becoming the world’s first satellite to approach Pluto. Pluto) – the most distant planet in the solar system that was previously unexplored by humans.

Pluto is the most distant planet of the “big family” of the solar system. From its discovery in 1930 to 2006, Pluto is still considered the ninth planet.

On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Federation defined “planet” for the first time. Based on this definition, Pluto is no longer recognized as a planet in the solar system but is only called a “dwarf planet” because it does not meet the criteria for identifying a planet.

Recently, the US Aerospace Agency – NASA announced the latest images obtained by the New Horizons satellite during the “travel” in space.

These photos were taken approximately 16 hours before reaching the closest distance to Pluto’s surface. After that, it took over 4 hours for these images to appear on Earth.
The closest distance this satellite can reach is approximately 12,500 km from the surface. This is the first time humans have been able to reach nearby Pluto.
New Horizons is an automatic space exploration spacecraft launched into space by NASA in 2006. The cost to launch New Horizons is $ 700 million (approximately VND 15 trillion), which includes the cost of construction. rockets, costs Look for new equipment and manpower to complete the job.
Because the New Horizons “work” site is so far from the Sun, scientists did not use solar cells like other man-made satellites. Instead, New Horizons is powered by atomic batteries capable of delivering power for 20 years.
The mass of this satellite is 465 kg. Over the past 9 years, New Horizons has “traveled” nearly 4 billion km in space. Up to this point, New Horizons has passed Pluto several times but has not yet landed.

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