New Horizons

Learn more about NASA's New Horizons mission, which performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.

Related Topics: Interstellar Travel, NASA, Alien Planets

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Pluto, as seen by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of the dwarf planet in July 2015.

New Horizons Pluto probe notches 3 new discoveries in outer solar system

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

NASA's New Horizons probe flew by Pluto nearly eight years ago, but the epic encounter is still bearing scientific fruit.

montage New Horizons images of Jupiter and Io

Jupiter's 10 most massive mysteries

By Elizabeth Howell published

Reference Jupiter has come under close spacecraft scrutiny for more than 50 years. But the gas giant still has a host of secrets.

Artist's illustration of the surface of Venus. A yellow-hued image has a barren surface with small rocks in the foreground and a thick hazy atmosphere above.

Planet Venus: 20 interesting facts about the scorching world

By Lee Cavendish published

Reference Venus is one of the weirdest planets in the solar system. We explore the scorching planet in more detail with 20 interesting facts about Venus.

Pluto, as seen by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of the dwarf planet in July 2015.

Far beyond Pluto: What's next for NASA's New Horizons probe?

By Leonard David last updated

New Horizons is still on duty in extended mission mode, diving ever deeper into the Kuiper Belt to examine ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region beyond the orbit of Neptune.

A group of stars is called a globular cluster. This globular cluster NGC 6380 is located approximately 35,000 light-years from Earth.

Stars: Facts about stellar formation, history and classification

By Charles Q. Choi, Ailsa Harvey last updated

Reference Learn how stars form, how stars and constellations are named, what happens when stars like our sun evolve, and ultimately, die.

An image of Pluto taken by the New Horizons probe in 2015 with evidence for potential cryovolcanism marked in blue.

Ice volcanoes on Pluto may still be erupting

By Rebecca Sohn last updated

An area of Pluto that researchers think was formed from the eruption of ice volcanoes is unique on the dwarf planet and in the solar system, a new study suggests.

A composite image of the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth.

The icy 'space snowman' Arrokoth in deep space just got names for its best features

By Elizabeth Howell published

The New Horizons team names point to three prominent features on the odd, binary world.

There are so many interesting solar system facts, here are some of our favorites.

25 weird and wild solar system facts

By Elizabeth Howell, Vicky Stein published

Reference Explore our 25 weird solar system facts and see how our neighborhood is stranger than we could ever imagine.

The surface of Pluto’s icy Sputnik Planum — seen here in a photo captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its close flyby of the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015 — is covered with churning ice “cells” that are geologically young and turning over due to convection.

Pluto's bizarre polygons now have a science explanation

By Elizabeth Howell published

The icy process may be present on other worlds.

Artist's impression of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.

New Horizons: Exploring Pluto and Beyond

By Elizabeth Howell published

New Horizons was the first spacecraft to visit dwarf planet Pluto and Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth. The spacecraft is still actively exploring the solar system.

The comet appears to have a glowing green/blue nucleus and a long pink/white tail stretch off in one direction as it streaks across a star-studded sky.

Comets: Everything you need to know about the 'dirty snowballs' of space

By Charles Q. Choi, Daisy Dobrijevic last updated

Comets are icy leftovers from the formation of the solar system. Explore these 'dirty snowballs' in more detail with our comet guide.

The yellow arrow shows the trajectory of New Horizons over the surface of Pluto.

NASA celebrates New Horizons' historic Pluto flyby in 2015 with awesome new videos

By Tereza Pultarova published

NASA has released new visualisations of the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon to commemorate the first-ever up close exploration of the distant worlds.

One of the first images taken by the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter during its first close pass at the sun in 2020.

Earth's sun: Facts about the sun's age, size and history

By Charles Q. Choi last updated

Read about the history and future of Earth’s sun as well as fun facts about the sun’s age, size, temperature, and phenomena like solar flares.

Pluto's famous "heart," as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its 2015 flyby of the dwarf planet.

NASA's New Horizons Pluto spacecraft is still exploring, 50 AU from the sun

By Mike Wall published

New Horizons is about to reach some very rarefied space, but don't expect the NASA probe to rest on its considerable laurels.

Rendering of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which will reach 50 AU (astronomical units), or 50 times the distance between Earth and the sun, on Saturday, April 17, 2021, a mile marker surpassed by only four other robotic probes in history. To celebrate the milestone, New Horizons pointed its camera out toward the direction of Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft (marked with a yellow circle).

NASA's New Horizons probe reaches rare distance, looks out to farthest Voyager

By Robert Z. Pearlman last updated

Fifteen years after launching and six years after becoming the first probe to fly by Pluto, NASA's New Horizons is reaching 50 AU, a marker that has been passed only by four other spacecraft.

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceliner captured this view of Earth during the vehicle's first trip to space, on Dec. 13, 2018.

New Horizons Pluto probe leader Alan Stern is going to space with Virgin Galactic

By Mike Wall published

Alan Stern, who leads NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond, has been selected to fly aboard SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's six-passenger suborbital space plane.

Mars at opposition

Mars Opposition 2020: How to See It and What to Expect

By Samantha Mathewson published

Get ready to see the Red Planet up close this week: , offering the closest view of the planet until 2035.

Arrokoth

2014 MU69: Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored

By Nola Taylor Tillman published

New Horizons' historic flyby of the KBO 2014 MU69, also known as Arrokoth, has revealed incredible insights about the birth of the solar system.

Pluto’s haze layer displays a blue color in this image obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft's Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC).

Pluto flyby photos: New Horizons mission leader Alan Stern reveals 10 of his favorite epic views

By Mike Wall last updated

New Horizons' epic Pluto encounter took place five years ago. Celebrate the anniversary with a look at some of the probe's most dramatic and intriguing photos.

Pluto, as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby of the dwarf planet in July 2015.

Pluto revealed: 5 years ago, NASA's New Horizons gave us our first close look at this distant world

By Mike Wall last updated

Five years ago today, we started to appreciate just how remarkable Pluto really is.