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Approach view of Pluto, animation. This is one of the views seen by the New Horizons space probe (detailed inset shown) as it flew past Pluto and Charon (not seen) in July 2015. These objects lie in the Kuiper Belt, some 40 times further from the Sun than the Earth. Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a double dwarf planet, rather than a planet and moon. Each is tidally locked to the other. New Horizons was launched by NASA in January 2006, and arrived at Pluto in July 2015. After this encounter it was redirected to pass the Kuiper Belt Object 486958 Arrokoth, arriving there on 1 January 2019