Hubble Will Help Scientists Decide Next Stop For Pluto-Bound Probe

A NASA spacecraft's historic flyby of Pluto is more than a year away, but researchers are already thinking about where the probe will go next.

Scientists will use the space agency's Hubble Space Telescope to search for another faraway object that could be visited by the New Horizons probe after its Pluto encounter, which is scheduled to take place in July 2015, NASA officials announced June 16.

"I am pleased that our science peer-review process arrived at a consensus as to how to effectively use Hubble's unique capabilities to support the science goals of the New Horizons mission," Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, which operates Hubble, said in a statement. Read more...