NASA's New Horizons, on its way to newly "defrocked" Pluto, sent back the first photo taken by its high-resolution camera as part of the spacecraft's equipment testing phase. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI)'s first image in space was star cluster Messier 7. But LORRI's real goal is to capture acquire the highest-resolution images of Pluto and its moons Charon during a flyby.

"Our hope was that LORRI's first image would prove...that LORRI was capable of providing the required high-resolution imaging of Pluto and Charon," says Andy Cheng, LORRI principal investigator. "Our hopes were not only met, but exceeded." The picture-taking was part of the spacecraft's equipment testing process where six of its other primary science instruments have already checked out.

Launched January this year, New Horizons has a long trip ahead and is expected to reach Pluto in 2015.