The Science Life Planetary Science

120 seconds in Pluto’s shadow

A nerve-wracking path correction put a 747 on course to measure Pluto’s skies

SOFIA test flight

SCOPE’S ON A PLANE  A 2.5-meter-wide telescope peers through an opening on SOFIA during a 2010 test flight over the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. 

NASA

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

Pluto’s shadow raced across the Pacific Ocean at more than 85,000 kilometers per hour. Planetary scientist Michael Person was on a 747 chasing the shadow, which formed as Pluto passed in front of a distant star.