What Is Pluto?

Pluto has been a newsmaker and topic of scientific fascination since Clyde Tombaugh discovered it in February 1930. While conversations continue over Pluto’s planetary identity, at least one theme carried through the talks at the Pluto Science Conference in July 2013. NASA’s New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the planetary frontier by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt -- a relic of solar system formation.