Meet The Family

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on Pluto. Ahead of the July 14th close approach; astronomers recently learned more about the chaotic motions and odd shapes of the dwarf planet’s moons.

Following the fly-by, New Horizons will head to the outer reaches of our solar system, and beyond. A crowd-sourcing effort will build a message sent to the spacecraft that represents humanity as it heads out into the cosmos. All can participate; search One Earth Message for more information.

The big players in the night sky this week are: Venus and Jupiter in the west right after sunset, Saturn in the East. Watch to see how late Venus sets – possibly the latest you’ll ever see it set.

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  Photo by Flickr user Luis Argerich