Dr. Alan Stern (left), New Horizons principal investigator, presents a plaque to James Christy, discoverer of Pluto's moon, Charon, during a ceremony on Sept. 27 to dedicate the Christy Science Operations Center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.

The New Horizons science team plans to use the "CSOC" during some of the mission's busiest times, from monitoring the spacecraft during integration and prelaunch testing, to examining data during New Horizons encounters with Jupiter, Pluto, Charon, and Kuiper Belt Objects. The Tombaugh Science Operations Center at Southwest Research Institute - dedicated last February to Pluto's discoverer, the late Clyde Tombaugh - serves as the science team's home base in Boulder, Colo.