A spacecraft the size of a grand piano and 2.9 billion miles from our planet has awakened from its long hibernation.

The spacecraft called New Horizons has been travelling for nine years across the solar system towards the destination, the dwarf planet Pluto. The spacecraft woke-up at 9:30 p.m. EST and is set to start the observations of Pluto by January 15 next year.

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When New Horizons spacecraft left Earth in 2006, Pluto was still a planet. It's since been classified as a dwarf planet.

The spacecraft will send a message to Earth confirming it remains operational an hour-and-a-half after it awakes. It will take four hours for its message to reach Earth, however.

The icy dwarf planet lies in the Kuiper Belt, a region populated by thousands of objects that have not yet been identified and icy mini-planets orbiting the sun beyond Neptune.

"It's hard to underestimate the evolution that's taking place in our view of the architecture and content of our solar system as result of the discovery of the Kuiper Belt," said lead researcher Alan Stern.

New Horizons' high-definition cameras will capture detailed pictures of Pluto. Other instruments will examine the chemical make-up of Pluto's atmosphere and surface, map its topography, evaluate how the dwarf planet reacts with the solar wind, and look for rings.

Scientists are excited to see up close thia unexplored domain of the solar system.

TagsPluto, dwarf planet, icy planet, spacecraft, New Horizons, Spacecraft New Horizons Wakes Up, space exploration, NASA, solar system, Earth, kuiper belt, Neptune