What Is Pluto

Pluto has been a newsmaker and topic of scientific fascination since Clyde Tombaugh discovered it in February 1930. While conversations continue over Pluto s planetary identity, at least one theme carried through the talks at the Pluto Science Conference in July 2013. NASA s New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the planetary frontier by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt a relic of solar system formation.