Leaving Pluto in the dust: New Horizons probe gearing up for epic crossing of 'termination shock'

This high-resolution image captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft combines blue, red and infrared images to show a bright expanse on Pluto known as Sputnik Planum, which has been found to be rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ices.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft conducted the first and only flyby of the Pluto system, culminating at the closest approach of that distant world in July 2015.

Sailing onward, the probe carried out a Jan. 1, 2019 flyby of Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt Object, or KBO, located in a region of space beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. There are scads of other icy worlds residing in the Kuiper Belt, celestial leftovers from the formation of our solar system.