Won't be long and the furtherest planet in the solar system will be better known

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And yes.. Pluto is a planet

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if you want to be scientifically incorrect, sure

Eris is a bigger dwarf planet than Pluto

As Astrobiology Magazine reports:


Science historian Dr. Owen Gingerich, who chaired the IAU planet definition committee, presented the historical viewpoint. Dr. Gareth Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center, presented the IAU's viewpoint. And Dr. Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, presented the exoplanet scientist's viewpoint.

Gingerich argued that "a planet is a culturally defined word that changes over time," and that Pluto is a planet. Williams defended the IAU definition, which declares that Pluto is not a planet. And Sasselov defined a planet as "the smallest spherical lump of matter that formed around stars or stellar remnants," which means Pluto is a planet.

After these experts made their best case, the audience got to vote on what a planet is or isn't and whether Pluto is in or out. The results are in, with no hanging chads in sight.

According to the audience, Sasselov's definition won the day, and Pluto IS a planet

I am too. Find if fascinating that we're about to find out so much after knowing about the planet for so long. And at how quickly we got their with the New Horizon's spacecraft.

Voyager time to encounter Pluto - 20 yrs

New Horizons time to encounter Pluto - 8 yrs

No, dude. Depending on orbit status of earth and Pluto, 4.2-5.6 hours.

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how close is the craft going to get? Like earth moon close or what? Why or why not?

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NASA is preparing to launch the first spacecraft to distant Pluto and its moon Charon. The January 2006 launch of New Horizons will complete the initial reconnaissance of the planets in the solar system.

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The New Horizons science payload, developed under direction of Southwest Research Institute, includes imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, a multi-color camera, a long-range telescopic camera, two particle spectrometers, a space-dust detector and a radio science experiment. The dust counter was designed and built by students at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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conducting a five-month-long study possible only from the close-up vantage of a spacecraft. It will characterize the global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures, and examine Pluto's atmospheric composition and structure. New Horizons also will study the small moons recently discovered in the Pluto system.

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