New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft has made the first visit to Pluto, speeding past at 14km per second, BBC.com reports.
Earlier, the space agency released the most detailed picture yet as it hurtled towards the dwarf planet on Tuesday.
The probe was set to grab more images and other data as it passed just 12,500km from the little world at 11:50 GMT (12:50 BST).
The spacecraft is currently out of contact with Earth as it continues its observations.
ut scientists already have colour data from the approach and said they might release another new picture of Pluto later on Tuesday.
Images set to be released on Wednesday will be more than 10 times the resolution of those already published.
New Horizons' flyby of 2,370km-wide Pluto is a key moment in the history of space exploration.
It marks the fact that all nine objects considered by many to be the Solar System's planets - from Mercury through to Pluto - have now been visited at least once by a probe.