NASA's New Horizons probe flickered to life on Saturday in preparation for a highly-anticipated study of Pluto and its surrounding celestial neighbors.
Launched in January 2006, the probe hibernated, in more than a dozen stints, for a total of 1,873 days during its nine-year, 3-billion-mile journey. New Horizons will begin observing Pluto in January and fly within 7,700 miles of its surface to finally give researchers high-resolution images of the ex-planet.
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