After a journey of more than nine years, NASA’s “New Horizon’s” space craft will finally reach its destination — the dwarf planet of Pluto. New Horizons still has about 200km to reach Pluto which will be a short distance compared to its 3bn mile journey thus far.

New Horizon’s mission once it arrives at the icy dwarf planet, will be to take photographs. Despite the length of the journey, the time spent at the destination will be minuscule, since the probe is traveling so fast, it won’t be able to slow enough to orbit around Pluto, but instead will have to go straight through it.

Before 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth planet in the Earth’s solar system. For scientists and the general public alike that still consider Pluto one of the giants, this mission is very important. Pluto is the only planet in the solar system that has yet to be visited by a probe, until July of 2015 that is.

Five of Pluto’s moons have been discovered so far and astronomers are hopeful that the New Horizon probe mission will bring even more discoveries to light, including new moons and possibly new rings.

Since January of 2006, New Horizons has spent nearly two-thirds of the journey to Pluto in hibernation. A hibernation it came out of at the end of last year.

After New Horizon’s journey and mission to Pluto is complete, the probe will continue onto the icy exterior of the solar system — named the Kuiper Belt. Scientists believe that masses as large as Earth and Mars could await New Horizons there, but only time and space will tell for sure.