Send a note of congratulations to NASA's New Horizons team

Checking back in quickly with one more update about the New Horizons spacecraft's mission to Pluto.

Around 8:00 a.m. Eastern yesterday, New Horizons passed within 8,000 miles of Pluto -- capturing even better images of the icy dwarf planet than those made earlier in the probe's approach.

Here is one of those remarkable, newly transmitted images:

It's been a pretty incredible couple of days.

To top it off, say congratulations to the New Horizons team -- and then forward this message to a friend who's been tracking the mission.