The New Horizons Encounter with Pluto only 75 Days Away!

Here are the latest images from the New Horizons spacecraft:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

If you look carefully, you'll notice that although the moon Charon rotates around the planet Pluto, Pluto does not remain in the center. The reason for this is that Charon is half Pluto's size and has a significant gravitational pull on Pluto. (Think of two skaters—a father and his much smaller daughter—holding all four hands on the ice and facing each other as they spin. Though his daughter will circle around her father, dad will also move in a circle of his own because his daughter has enough weight to pull him out of center.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_%28moon%29#/media/File:Pluto-Charon_System.gif   New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto is only 75 days away. From here on, the photos that the spacecraft (specifically the LORRI* instrument) takes will be better than anything the Hubble Space Telescope could ever take! * Long Range Reconnaissance Imager

Our next issue of CREATOR will be about Pluto and its five moons, and the omniscience of our great Creator. With the New Horizons' pass-by of Pluto on July 14, this is all very exciting!!

Drawing of Pluto by C m handler Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported