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Pluto Up Close: New Horizons Spacecraft Sends 'Love Note'

  • by: Alan Duke
  • (Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:27:44 Z)

Pluto, the dwarf planet on the edge of the Solar System, is less of a mystery after NASA's New Horizons spacecraft passed close by and gathered remarkable images.

New Horizons Twitter account posted this "sneak peak" on the morning of July 14, 2015, just hours before the closest point of the interplanetary rendezvous: "The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles."

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"This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach," NASA said. "The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface."

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Even more spectaular images arrived on Wednesday as the piano-sized spacecraft made its closest pass.

NASA said a photo of Pluto's equator showed "a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body."

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Lead Stories' Trendolizer travels billions of miles through the Internet to collect and analyze the hottest social network posting about Pluto and the rest of the Solar System. Scroll below to see the latest we've found. But remember: Just because it's trending doesn't mean it's true!

About the author:

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

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