Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Cold, distant, Pluto is the only planet in our Solar System which has not been visited by a spacecraft from Earth. The type of small, high-tech spacecraft proposed is depicted above in an artist's vision approaching Pluto's mottled surface. A tenuous, transient atmosphere is visible as blue haze beyond the bright limb while Pluto's companion Charon looms in the distance. Images and data from such a mission would be an incredible boon to those studying these bizarre, inaccessible worlds as evidence mounts that Pluto itself is only the largest of many small ice dwarf mini-planets.
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