New Horizons and the Exploration of Pluto - a Federation of Astronomical Societies Webinar
Sat 15 Nov
|Institute of Astronomy
What did the New Horizons flyby of Pluto discover? Find out from the mission's principal investigator.
Time & Location
15 Nov 2025, 16:15 – 18:45
Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
About The Event
This is an online Zoom event and we will be "signing in" from the IoA on Madingley Road. The CAA is paying a group rate to allow us to participate and we suggest that all participants pay £1 on the day to help us cover the cost.
Doors will open at 4.15 with some refreshments available. The Webinar starts at 5pm
Main speaker - Alan Stern - Principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto
Between 1979 and 1989, a rare planetary alignment allowed the Voyager missions to visit the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but not Pluto.
In 1989, Alan Stern was a member of a team that suggested a spaceflight to Pluto. This became the New Horizons mission, which was launched in January 2006, and took 9½ years to reach its distant target.
The flyby through the Pluto system with its five moons completely transformed…