WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – A day after its successful flyby, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft sent back the first close-up photos of Pluto. The piano-sized spacecraft traveled nine years and three billion miles to study the dwarf planet and its five moons.

(On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union, an organization of professional astronomers, revoked Pluto’s planetary status.)

Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been a bit of a puzzle: It’s smaller than any other planet — even smaller than Earth’s moon. It’s dense and rocky, like the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). However, its nearest neighbors are the gaseous Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). For this reason, many scientists believe that Pluto originated elsewhere in space and got caught in the sun’s gravity.

Some astronomers once theorized that Pluto used to be one of Neptune’s moons. Pluto’s orbit is erratic. The planets in our solar system all orbit the sun in a relatively flat plane. Pluto, however, orbits the sun at a 17-degree angle to this plane. In addition, its orbit is exceptionally elliptical and crosses Neptune’s orbit.

One of its moons, Charon, is about half Pluto’s size. Some astronomers have recommended that the two objects be treated as a binary system rather than a planet and satellite.

But after seeing the new photos of Pluto which revealed a young surface dotted with ice mountains, the astronomers decided to reinstate the dwarf planet’s  full planet status. “If there’s water, there must be life,” the astronomers concluded, ” and Pluto might be the only  planet other than Earth  where life exists.”

The United States is now finalizing a blueprint to be the first to send human beings to Pluto. Expect this human landing in 2024!