On February 28, the New Horizons probe flew over Jupiter

New Horizons, NASA's fastest air space probe, is also the first spacecraft to explore Pluto, which will fly through Jupiter with the closest distance on February 28.

The New Horizons probe will rely on the gravity of this solar system's largest planet to accelerate from 14,500 km / h to 80,000 km / h, allowing it to advance to Pluto in July 2015.

During the flight near Jupiter, the probe's instruments will be activated to analyze the atmosphere, the largest rings and four moons of the fifth planet of this solar system.

Information and measurements collected on Jupiter will be sent back to Earth after the probe is nearest to the planet in early March.

The New Horizons probe weighing 454kg was launched on January 19, 2006 from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA) and will arrive at Pluto after a 4.8 billion km long journey in 9 years. 7 instruments on the probe will study Pluto's geology, temperature, surface composition and atmosphere as well as the four largest moons of the star.

(Photo: NASA)

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