By Hector Gonzalez
Staff Writer

July 10, 2015 -- When NASA’s pioneering New Horizons spacecraft makes its historic flyby of dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon next week, children and visitors at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium will get the inside scoop directly from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

After traveling more than 3.6 billion miles over the past nine years, New Horizons will make its closest approach to Pluto and Charon on Tuesday, July 14. Starting at 3 p.m. that day, the aquarium will host a remote live broadcast with Lyle Tavernier, an education specialist at JPL in Pasadena.

“I hope it will be very cool,” said Tavernier, who has done similar live remotes with members of the public over the past four years as part of JPL’s educational outreach.

On Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19, the aquarium will continue the “deep space-deep sea connection” with special presentations, arts and crafts projects and related activities, said spokesperson Randi Parent.

New Horizons’ sensors, scopes and cameras will be pointed toward Pluto and its moon on July 14, the craft’s transmitters will be facing toward Earth, it will take “quite some time” for the data to reach scientists, said Tavernier.

“I believe it will take over a year to get all of the data back,” he said.

That long lag time means the live broadcast at the aquarium will not include live pictures of Pluto and Charon, he said. But it will include the very latest information available on the mission, Tavernier said.

“I’ll talk about the New Horizons mission and what it takes to explore deep space, and I’ll provide whatever new information is available,” Tavernier said. “Whatever comes back, I’ll share with them.”

New Horizons has traveled for a longer time and father away to reach its destination than any previous spacecraft, according to NASA’s website. On July 14, it will pass within 6,200 miles of Pluto and come as close as 17,000 miles to Pluto's largest moon, Charon, the website said.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in January 2006, New Horizons is carrying seven instruments designed to take photos and measurements of Pluto and its atmosphere. This week, the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager on the craft sent back the first up-close image of the planet.

Although blurry, the picture offered “tantalizing” clues to bright and dark patterns previously observed on Pluto’s surface, said NASA’s website.

On Monday, NASA reported that a glitch that had thrown the spacecraft into “safe mode” has been cleared up and the flyby is still on track for next Tuesday.

Officials said a flaw in data timing caused the glitch, but no critical data was lost during New Horizon’s down time.

“Now, with Pluto in our sights, we’re on the verge of returning to normal operations and going for the gold,” Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science, said in an announcement Monday.

After its close encounter with Pluto, New Horizons will continue on to explore small planets within the Kuiper Belt,  an area beyond Neptune’s obit that contains numerous objects, NASA’s website said.

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is at 1600 Ocean Front Walk (beach level, beneath the Carousel building). It’s open Tuesday to Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. and weekends from 12:30 to 6 p.m.

Children 12 and younger enter free when accompanied by a paying adult. Adult admission is $5 per person. For more information call 310-393-6149, Ext. 105.