Pluto on the Horizon: Anticipating our First Encounter with the Double Planet

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015.
Dr. Mark Showalter (SETI Institute)
The more we learn about Pluto, the more interesting it becomes. In the last decade, four tiny moons have been discovered orbiting the central "binary planet," which consists of Pluto and its large moon Charon. Pluto itself has a thin atmosphere and shows signs of seasonal changes. On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will fly past Pluto and provide our first close-up look at these distant worlds. Dr. Showalter, a co-investigator on the mission, describes how he discovered two of the moons of Pluto, explains what we currently know about the Pluto system, and sets the scene for the exploration that is in store.