Just a few moments ago at 12.49pm, the fastest spacecraft ever built, came within kilometres of Pluto - taking thousands of images of the dwarf planet.

NASA almost instantly released this detailed photo taken by the New Horizons probe which came within 12,500km (7,800 miles) of Pluto - which for space is incredibly close, considering it's some 5 billion km away from us here on Earth.

Find out more about the pioneering mission, that scientists have waited more than nine and a half years to take place.

 

SNEAK PEEK of gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach - 7:49 a.m. EDT today. This same image will be released and discussed at 8 a.m. EDT today. Watch our briefing live on NASA Television at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv The high res pic will be posted on the web at: http://www.nasa.gov. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons #solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on Jul 14, 2015 at 4:00am PDT