Pluto

If you have read the news, you will notice that the New Horizons space craft just got to Pluto and has been taking real pictures. The space craft left the earth in 2006, just a few months before Pluto was demoted from planet to a smaller body due to the third classification criteria.

At its closet point, the space craft is just 7,800 miles away from Pluto.  That is close enough to get some really awesome pictures of the planet and to see things we've never seen before.  Just think, Pluto was discovered in 1930 and the children of the man who discovered Pluto were their for the first pictures.

Even from the few pictures they've received, they've discovered new things.  For instance, they discovered the bright part of the planet is actually heart shaped with one side being more bluish, the other side more yellowish and a distinct divider in the middle.

In addition, the space craft has sent back information on Pluto's chemical make up and temperature ratings.  It seems that Pluto has five distinct areas of terrain and the surface is pot marked from a bunch of impacts.   There appears to be evidence in these early days that Pluto may actually be a real planet even if has the same surface area as Russia.

This is soo cool. This is awesome that  we can determine so much from the various pictures being sent back by the space craft.  I can hardly wait for more new discoveries concerning Pluto