Nasa's first close-up images of Pluto to come to Canberra tracking station

The CSIRO's deep space communication complex will be the first place on Earth to receive images as the New Horizons probe makes its closest encounter with the dwarf planet

Australian scientists are gearing up for a historic moment in space exploration as a tracking station in Canberra becomes responsible for receiving the world's first close-up images of Pluto on Tuesday evening.

Nine and a half years after it left Earth and having clocked up 5bn kilometres of space travel, Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft will make its closest encounter with Pluto at exactly 9:49.57pm AEST (12.49.57pm BST or 7:49.57am EST) on Tuesday.