the flyby showed Pluto to be home to cryo- or ice volcanoes, soaring mountains, and flat plains. Its surface is dominated by volatile ices, with large variations in color and albedo. New Horizons also took a look at Charon, the largest of Pluto’s five moons. Charon appears to be loaded with just water ice, absent the other frozen gasses found on Pluto. The most striking feature on this moon is a 600-mile long rift, longer than the Grand Canyon.

High-priority missions will continue, including a close encounter with a distant object called Ultima Thule, scheduled for 33 minutes past midnight on New Year’s Eve.

On January 1, the New Horizons spacecraft, the one famous for flying by Pluto, will pass by Ultima Thule to explore this strange rock and try to learn more about the very formation of our solar system.