Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons

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Source:  Dauna Coulter, Science@NASA
Excerpt: At this very moment one of the fastest spacecraft ever launched -- NASA's New Horizons -- is hurtling through the void at nearly one million miles per day. ... headed for the lonely world of Pluto on the outer edge of the solar system. Although astronomers now call Pluto a dwarf planet, "it's actually a large place, about 5,000 miles around at the equator," says Alan Stern, principal investigator for the mission. "And it's never been explored." 

 science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02sep_newhorizons/

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