Pluto

Using three images beamed back to Earth from the New Horizons spacecraft’s long-range camera, scientists created this jaw-dropping animation of what it might look like to buzz Pluto from 25 miles up.

New results from NASA’s New Horizons mission, which zipped about 7,700 miles from faraway Pluto on Tuesday, show puzzling icy landforms covered in frozen carbon monoxide and mysterious dark smudges, which may be evidence for plumes erupting from Pluto’s warmer interior, scientists said Friday.

Scientists are crunching data for a press conference Wednesday, and there is high anticipation for the release of the first close-up images from Tuesday’s historic flyby of Pluto.

A long-awaited radio signal from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft landed on planet Earth late Tuesday, confirming the faraway space probe performed as expected during a one-shot flyby of Pluto at the solar system’s outer frontier.

A speedy space probe barreled past Pluto for a one-shot flyby Tuesday, becoming the first spacecraft to ever visit the frozen, reddish world at the solar system’s distant frontier.