Artist’s impression of Pluto and Charon

Pluto is a remote and enigmatic world that resides on the edge of the Solar System, in a region known as the Kuiper Belt.

On 14 July 2015, NASA’s New Horizons probe will fly past Pluto, offering the first close-up look at this small, distant world and its largest satellite, Charon. These denizens of the outer Solar System will, at long last, be transformed from mysterious, hazy bodies into worlds with distinct features — possibly not too dissimilar from those seen in this artist’s impression.

In celebration of this historic occasion, the IAU is proud to endorse a campaign that will allow members of the public to participate in naming newly imaged and identified features on the surfaces of Pluto and its natural satellites.

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