July 14 is a huge day for space as a NASA spacecraft is set to proceed with its first flyby on Pluto.
New Horizons, which has traveled to the Dwarf Planet for nearly a decade, will be taking photos and recording necessary scientific data in the closest range to Pluto. It is the very first spaceship to ever reach the farthest planet.
At 7:49 a.m. EST on Tuesday, the unmanned spacecraft will be about 7,800 miles near Pluto. The monumental event can be seen live via NASA TV beginning 7:30 a.m. The streams, however, are not going to be live as considerations will be given to the distance of the Earth from where the actual action is.
Viewers will also not be able to confirm whether New Horizons has successfully achieved the flyby until in the evening. By then, NASA should have additional images of Pluto and a briefing by the experts will be subsequently aired between 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST, according to NASA in a press release.
"That [message] is going to be a very highly anticipated even because it's going to be sort of putting the cherry on top," said Alan Stern, the principal investigator for New Horizons mission, during a news briefing Monday, the BBC reported.
By Wednesday morning, at 7 a.m. EST, NASA should be able to provide high-resolution downloadable images of Pluto and one of its moon, Charon, on its website.
The free app "New Horizons: a NASA Voyage of Pluto" may also be downloaded for watching the flyby on smartphones and other mobile devices. A desktop app "Eyes on Pluto" is also available.
For more updates on the Pluto flyby, follow these Twitter accounts:
- The official New Horizons Twitter account
- Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator
- Dava Newman, NASA's deputy administrator
- Sara Horst, from Johns Hopkins
In 2006, NASA launched New Horizons into space. It remained in hibernation until December 2014, whereby scientists at the operation center in Johns Hopkins University woke the spacecraft to begin gathering data.
Take note of these schedules for New Horizon's Pluto Flyby, as indicated in the press release:
Tuesday, July 14
7:30 to 8 a.m. - Arrival at Pluto Countdown Program; live on NASA TV
8 to 9 a.m. - Media briefing, image release; live on NASA TV
9 a.m. to noon - Interview Opportunities (no NASA TV coverage)
8:30 to 9:15 p.m. - NASA TV program, Phone Home, broadcast from APL Mission Control
9:30 to 10 p.m. - Media Briefing: New Horizons Health and Mission Status; live on NASA TV
Wednesday, July 15
Noon to 3 p.m. - Interview Opportunities (no NASA TV coverage)
3 to 4 p.m. - Media Briefing: Seeing Pluto in a New Light; live on NASA TV
