We CAN do it in less than months, but that takes tech we haven’t yet developed for long term flight. Even a VERY low acceleration of 1% of G adds up a lot, and that is readily doable with existing, known techs.

Don’t be silly. On this, the science IS settled. Even Lukewarmers don’t argue: “Pluto does not cause Global Warming…”

And yes, a young surface on such a small, cold world was certainly a surprise. The best theory I’ve heard so far is that when Pluto is close to the Sun, the surface ice evaporates and forms a temporary atmosphere, which freezes and precipitates back to the surface when it moves farther away. In this way the surface is constantly being reworked, and the ancient craters are obscured. Pluto has a highly elliptical orbit that takes 248 years to go around the Sun. The last perihelion was in 1989, so it’s on its way back out now.

At Pluto’s distance, the spacecraft’s radio signal is so faint and weak that it can send data back only slowly. During the few days of closest encounter, it frantically gathered all the data it could and stored it on board. It will take about 16 months to transmit all of it back to Earth. So the photos we’ve seen so far are just the beginning. In fact, most of them were taken before the encounter and transmitted immediately as a contingency in case the spacecraft struck debris in Pluto’s vicinity, which would have destroyed it.

One thing I find cool and fascinating is that all of the planets and moons visited by spacecraft so far have turned out to be completely unique and individual. They all cry out for further study, which will keep scientists busy for centuries.

An ignorant woman on CNN was declaring that having our military men armed in recruiting stations would be “a violation of the posse comitatus act.”

Er, NOOOO. Nothing to do with using the military to conduct domestic law enforcement activities.

http://www.space.com/29929-pluto-flyby-new-horizons-spacecraft.html

The animators used the actual telemetry from the spacecraft, which is running in the left-hand side of the frame: it gives you a super-precise view of the probe’s activities.

Gave me goosebumps.