Until 2015, Pluto remained a dim dot through Earthbound telescopes, and a mere few pixels on images taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past the Pluto system, forever changing our view of this distant world. Astronomy celebrated the accomplishment with our Year of Pluto, a wealth of fascinating articles looking back over our past expectations, guesses, and dreams about Pluto, and highlighting the unrivaled success of and the wealth of information unlocked by New Horizons over the course of just a few short hours.Circling the Sun on an elliptical orbit tilted relative to the plane of the planets, Pluto takes about 248 (Earth) years to make one trip; the tiny, icy world has not yet completed even a single orbit since its discovery. But despite its distance and its still-controversial status, Pluto remains one of the most beloved and fascinating objects in our solar system. Below, you can find links to some of our favorite articles on the history of Pluto, leading up to its discovery, its naming, and the 2015 flyby. Or we invite you to explore our full library of Pluto articles here: Year of Pluto And if, like many, you believe Pluto should regain its place among the rightful planets of our solar system, stay tuned — Astronomy will be featuring an exclusive on the definition of the word planet, and how we might rethink it, in an upcoming magazine issue and online bonus feature.Explore Pluto's history with this unique interactive timeline.How did Pluto get its name? You can thank Venetia Burney.Pluto's largest moon, Charon, wasn't even discovered until 1978 — and at first, it wasn't even thought to be a moon at all.Before New Horizons, one of the best ways to study Pluto was through occultations that occur when the tiny world passes in front of a background star. 1992 QB 1 : The first Kuiper Belt object opened a realm of 1,000 Plutos

Apparently alone upon its discovery, we now know that Pluto is just one of thousands of Kuiper Belt objects. Astronomical artistic license: 40 years of Pluto portaits

Everyone today can point out Pluto in a lineup, thanks to its reddened surface and distinctive "heart." But what did we think it looked like before our first up-close look in 2015?As New Horizons' flyby data began to stream in, we finally took our first look at this distant dwarf planet and its moons.Would you like to learn more? Check out our free downloadable eBook: Pluto and its moons: Findings from the New Horizons mission Want to show off Pluto in your very own home? Astronomy magazine's Pluto globe is for you!