Pluto is called a dwarf planet or a ball of ice. However, Dr. Greg Ojakangas, an associate professor of physics at Drury, calls the planet "Amazingly beautiful". Ojakangas was excited to see Pluto from close as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made the closest approach to the planet, flying within just 7,800 miles.

He said it has never been possible in the history of space science to get that close to Pluto. It's very rare to get an opportunity to see something that no human eyes have ever seen before.

Ojakangas is very interested in the work of New Horizons as it is extracting new information about Pluto's five moons. He has examined the large moons of Jupiter.

He knows many of the researchers working on the New Horizons team as he is the former finalist in NASA's astronaut selection program. He appreciated the work of the New Horizons team to make the mission a great success and be the first to gain such an insight into Pluto.

New Horizons mission was launched from Earth more than nine years ago and the results it has produced are incredible.

"To understand our Earth better, we should do everything we can to understand other planets. They're ready-made laboratories for testing our understanding of how the materials of the universe behave", he added.