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First close-up image of Pluto's surface released

The first ever close-up image of Pluto's surface has been released following the historic fly past of Nasa's New Horizons space probe.

The spacecraft has taken nine years to reach the dwarf planet.

The latest images released by Nasa has shown more details of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, including surface material and features.

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Nasa confirms successful Pluto flypast by New Horizons

There were raucous scenes at Nasa HQ as scientists celebrated the successful flypast of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft.

After a nine-year journey, the probe passed within 7,767 miles (12,500km) of the dwarf planet, closer to the surface than any other has ever before.

"The thermal operations are nominal. Nothing has overheated, it's all going good. We have a healthy spacecraft, we've recorded data from the Pluto system, and we're outbound for Pluto," said mission operations manager Alice Bowman to huge cheers at the Mission Operations Centre in Laurel, Maryland.

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