New Horizons Crosses the Orbit of Neptune   
       
   August 25, 2014:  NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has traversed the   
   orbit of Neptune. This is its last major crossing en route to becoming the   
   first probe to make a close encounter with distant Pluto on July 14, 2015.   
       
   The sophisticated piano-sized spacecraft, which launched in January 2006,   
   reached Neptune's orbit -- nearly 2.75 billion miles from Earth -- in a record   
   eight years and eight months. New Horizons' milestone matches precisely the   
   25th anniversary of the historic encounter of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft with   
   Neptune on Aug. 25, 1989.   
       
   http://tinyurl.com/koatvz6   
       
   NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft captured this view of the giant   
   planet Neptune and its large moon Triton on July 10, 2014, from a distance of   
   about 2.45 billion miles (3.96 billion kilometers) - more than 26 times the   
   distance between the Earth and sun. The 967-millisecond exposure was taken   
   with the New Horizons telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI).   
   Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labo   
   atory/Southwest Research Institute. More   
       
   "It's a cosmic coincidence that connects one of NASA's iconic past outer solar   
   system explorers, with our next outer solar system explorer," said Jim Green,   
   director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters in   
   Washington. "Exactly 25 years ago at Neptune, Voyager 2 delivered our `first'   
   look at an unexplored planet. Now it will be New Horizons' turn to reveal the   
   unexplored Pluto and its moons in stunning detail next summer on its way into   
   the vast outer reaches of the solar system."   
       
   New Horizons now is about 2.48 billion miles from Neptune -- nearly 27 times   
   the distance between the Earth and our sun -- as it crosses the giant planet's   
   orbit at 10:04 p.m. EDT Monday. Although the spacecraft will be much farther   
   from the planet than Voyager 2's closest approach, New Horizons' telescopic   
   camera was able to obtain several long-distance "approach" shots of Neptune on   
   July 10.   
       
   "NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 explored the entire middle zone of the solar system   
   where the giant planets orbit," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal   
   investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Now we   
   stand on Voyager's broad shoulders to explore the even more distant and   
   mysterious Pluto system."   
       
   Several senior members of the New Horizons science team were young members of   
   Voyager's science team in 1989. Many remember how Voyager 2's approach images   
   of Neptune and its planet-sized moon Triton fueled anticipation of the   
   discoveries to come. They share a similar, growing excitement as New Horizons   
   begins its approach to Pluto.   
       
   http://tinyurl.com/exshu   
       
   Click to visit the New Horizons home page"The feeling 25 years ago was that   
   this was really cool, because we're going to see Neptune and Triton up-close   
   for the first time," said Ralph McNutt of the Johns Hopkins University Applied   
   Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, who leads the New Horizons   
   energetic-particle investigation and served on the Voyager plasma-analysis   
   team. "The same is happening for New Horizons. Even this summer, when we're   
   still a year out and our cameras can only spot Pluto and its largest moon as   
   dots, we know we're in for something incredible ahead."   
       
   Voyager's visit to the Neptune system revealed previously unseen features of   
   Neptune itself, such as the Great Dark Spot, a massive storm similar to, but   
   not as long-lived, as Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Voyager also, for the first   
   time, captured clear images of the ice giant's ring system, too faint to be   
   clearly viewed from Earth. "There were surprises at Neptune and there were   
   surprises at Triton," said Ed Stone, Voyager's long-standing project scientist   
   from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "I'm sure that will   
   continue at Pluto."   
       
   Many researchers feel the 1989 Neptune flyby -- Voyager's final planetary   
   encounter -- might have offered a preview of what's to come next summer.   
   Scientists suggest that Triton, with its icy surface, bright poles, varied   
   terrain and cryovolcanoes, is a Pluto-like object that Neptune pulled into   
   orbit. Scientists recently restored Voyager's footage of Triton and used it to   
   construct the best global color map of that strange moon yet -- further   
   whetting appetites for a Pluto close-up.   
       
   "There is a lot of speculation over whether Pluto will look like Triton, and   
   how well they'll match up," McNutt said. "That's the great thing about   
   first-time encounters like this -- we don't know exactly what we'll see, but   
   we know from decades of experience in first-time exploration of new planets   
   that we will be very surprised."   
       
   Similar to Voyager 1 and 2's historic observations, New Horizons also is on a   
   path toward potential discoveries in the Kuiper Belt, which is a disc-shaped   
   region of icy objects past the orbit of Neptune, and other unexplored realms   
   of the outer solar system and beyond.   
       
   "No country except the United States has the demonstrated capability to   
   explore so far away," said Stern. "The U.S. has led the exploration of the   
   planets and space to a degree no other nation has, and continues to do so with   
   New Horizons. We're incredibly proud that New Horizons represents the nation   
   again as NASA breaks records with its newest, farthest and very capable   
   planetary exploration spacecraft."   
       
   Credits:   
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More information:   
       
   Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977, and one of the spacecraft   
   visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 now is the most distant   
   human-made object, about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away from   
   the sun. In 2012, it became the first human-made object to venture into   
   interstellar space. Voyager 2, the longest continuously operated spacecraft,   
   is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from our sun.   
       
   New Horizons is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers program. APL manages   
   the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. APL   
   also built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft.   
       
   The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet   
   Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Voyager missions are part   
   of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics   
   Division of the Science Mission Directorate.   
       
   To view the Neptune images taken by New Horizons and learn more about the   
   mission, visit:   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons   
       
   For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/voyager   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
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