Pluto is the only planet in our Solar System remaining unphotographed by a
passing spacecraft. Distant Pluto and its moon Charon therefore remain somewhat
mysterious. In addition to direct imaging by the Hubble Space Telescope, careful
tracking of brightness changes that occur as each object eclipses the other have
allowed astronomers to build up the above black & white surface maps. These maps
depict the face of Pluto (left) that always faces Charon, and the face of Charon
that always faces away from Pluto. The rectangular pixels are an artifact of the
mapping software. The Pluto-Kuiper Express mission was tentatively planned for
launch in 2003 with an expected encounter of Pluto around the year 2012.
However, this mission was cancelled for budgetary reasons. A new mission to
study Pluto and the Kuiper Belt called New Horizons is scheduled to launch on
January 11, 2006, with is expected to fly-by Pluto in July 2015.
