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Presentation

The New Horizons Mission: Pluto and Beyond

Public Astronomy Talk

Date:
Time:
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
UNL City Union Room: Auditorium
1400 R St
Lincoln, NE 68588–0453
Contact:
Jen Barnason, (402) 472-9223, jbarnason2@gmail.com
Susan Benecchi, Carnegie Institution of Washington & Planetary Science Institute, will present an overview of what we know about the Pluto system currently, the goals of the New Horizons (NH) mission and our efforts to find a Kuiper Belt Object to visit after the Pluto system encounter.
The outermost region of the Solar System has yet to be explored by spacecraft. Pluto sits inside of the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects in the outer solar system that we believe is a relic of the Solar System’s formation and evolution. The NH spacecraft launched in January 2006, and will fly through the Pluto system in July 2015. We hope to visit a Kuiper Belt Object (yet to be identified) afterward, in the 2018-2020 time-frame.
Since launch, an additional four moons have been discovered orbiting Pluto. Instruments on the spacecraft will study the surfaces of Pluto and Charon with optical broadband and multicolor images to resolutions of a few hundred meters, as well as near-infrared spectral maps with a few kilometer resolution sensitive to volatiles such as water ice, methane ice and ammonia. We will also collect UV spectra and particle data sensitive to active volatile loss.

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