Question #16 – On this day in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. On July 14, 2015, a spacecraft flew 7,800 miles above the dwarf planet. What was the name of this spacecraft, and where is it now?

Answer:

After taking many great photographs of Pluto and its five moons, the New Horizons spacecraft continued its mission flying more than 4½ billion miles beyond Earth to encounter the most distant object ever photographed "close up". The object's name, Ultima Thule, means "A distant, unknown region; the extreme limit of travel and discovery".

For more information, see the New Horizons mission page.

Photos of Pluto and Ultima Thule, taken by New Horizons (Photo credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI