EVENTS For information on JPL tours and the speakers bureau, visit our PUBLIC SERVICES site. The Solar System Ambassador Program sponsors events in communities around the country. Find out how to become a volunteer Solar System Ambassador.		Topic - First Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt From Darkness to Light: The Exploration of the Planet Pluto Presented by Dr. Bonnie Buratti JPL Principal Investigator & Science Team, New Horizons Mission to Pluto RealPlayer (with caption): "From Darkness to Light" Archived Webcast RealPlayer (w/out caption): "From Darkness to Light" Archived Webcast If you don't have RealPlayer, you can download the free RealPlayer 8 Basic.   Thursday, November 17 The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA For directions, click here. Friday, November 18 The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA For directions, click here. Both lectures begin at 7 p.m. PST and run for approximately an hour. Admission is free. Seating is limited. For more information, call (818) 354-0112. Pluto, appearing as a small dot in even the largest telescopes, is the only planet not yet explored by a spacecraft. Since its discovery on the frozen edges of the solar system by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, the ninth planet has yielded some of its secrets to astronomers. Pluto's light has been analyzed to show bright and dark patches, an atmosphere, and a large satellite. Pluto may even have seasons as Earth does. NASA plans to launch the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto in 2006 for an encounter nearly a decade later. To learn more about the New Horizons mission to Pluto click here.