The Probe That Went Up A Planet And Came Down A Celestial Dwarf

On January 19, 2006, 19:00 UTC New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral on its way to make a flyby of the known center piece of the Kuiper Belt, Pluto.  Within a short 8 months of its launch on a mission that would take nine years the International Astronomical Union had redefined Pluto to a 'dwarf planet' taking away its lofty status int he Solar System as one of the nine known planet I had memorized from childhood.  By the time New Horizons had arrived to flyby the last planet to be visited in our Solar System there was no planet to observe.  It was now one of many common objects drifting around our star in a a centuries long dance through the heavens that had been stripped of its mysterious wonder of being the last planet to be visited. and regulated to the status of a 'dwarf planet.'

But for many of us the wonder, mystery, and awe remains and I waited with baited breath as New Horizons arrived at its scheduled rendezvous for its closes approach on July 14th, 2015 at 11:50 UTC.  I had followed its progress for nine years, fretted through its famed software glitch on Independence day 2015, was awed by its brief visit to Jupiter's lesser charges: Ganymede, Europe, Callisto, and Io, and finally to its first flirtatious glance of Pluto itself and its largest moon Charon.

I will be posting much more about Pluto and what New Horizons uncovered for those of us still enraptured by its mystery but for now I wanted to post my two favorite images to date of the celestial body that in my mind is still our ninth planet.  The first is the most know and beautiful shot of its approach.  But the later is a shot taken after its flyby going away with a look at its "backside."  As I've said there will be much more posed on this mysterious celestial marvel, despite the IAU's attempt to diminish its status in our Solar System.

Pluto on approach by New Horizons

New Horizons' view as it recedes in the distance after it's closest approach