Australian scientists to be the world's first to see close-up images of Pluto

Australian scientists will be the first to receive new, close-up images of Pluto when a NASA ( National Aeronautics and Space Administration) spacecraft conducts the closest fly-by of the dwarf planet on Tuesday evening.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is working alongside NASA on the project, and their laboratories will be the first to receive the images taken by NASA's spacecraft, New Horizons.

The craft is expected to move closest to Pluto at exactly 9:47. 57 p.m. (Australian Eastern time), with the first photos expected to be transmitted back to Earth not long afterwards.

The CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a part of NASA's Deep Space Network, and is one of three stations around the world that has the capabilities and personnel to successfully initiate two-way radio contact with deep-space crafts.

The CDSCC's director, Dr Ed Kruzins, said on Tuesday his team was excited to be the first to see the new images of Pluto, as they have been a part of a decade-long project to uncover more about deep space.

"We have tracked New Horizons since its launch in January 2006 and are currently receiving the latest images and telemetry from the spacecraft which allows the mission team to make decisions about course corrections and to begin the key science observations, " he said in a statement.

By the time the radio signals transmitted from New Horizons reaches Earth they will be incredibly weak, however the CDSCC's large and ultra-sensitive satellite dish will mean the photos of Pluto will be received in high quality.

This will be the first time that scientists can study Pluto from such a close distance, and the head of CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Science division, Dr Lewis Ball, said the CDSCC was extremely proud to be part of another world-first.

"CDSCC has been involved in many of space exploration's greatest moments, from capturing images of the first moon walk to receiving amazing views from the surface of Mars, and the first ' close-ups' of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," Ball said.

New Horizons is traveling at 52,000 kilometers per hour throughout space, and will pass the dwarf planet at a height at 12, 500 kilometers as it transmits images back to Earth.

Ball said the opportunity to be a part of history was "the cherry on top" of an amazing, decade-long adventure.

"Capturing Pluto will be the capstone of this amazing space adventure," he said. Endi