NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back its first colour image of Pluto.

Pluto is the underdog hero of our solar system. Once considered a full-on planet, it was downgraded to a dwarf planet, but it has remained an object of fascination for scientists and to the space-loving public.

The picture which was sent back to the space agency from the New Horizons spacecraft, will be flying past the dwarf planet in July. Pluto appears as just two small dots in this image and it is those tiny dots that NASA now has to target the ship towards.The planet was considered the ninth planet in our solar system ,the furthest from the sun until 2006 when it was reclassified.

Alan Stern, the principal investigator on the New Horizons mission, said: “It sounds like science fiction but it is not.” Scientists want to learn more about the atmosphere of Pluto because it is mainly nitrogen like Earth’s.

• JAAF welcomes American Apparel support
• Iran assures continued assistance
• Manufacturing PMI declined in July 2022
• Letters to Russia NOT accepted
• Police arrest gang responsible for theft