INCREDIBLE IMAGES OF PLUTO

THIS IMAGE FEATURES A LARGE REGION OF

JUMBLED, BROKEN TERRAIN ON THE NORTH

WESTERN EDGE OF THE VAST, ICY PLAIN

INFORMALLY CALLED SPUTNIK PLANUM.

MOSAIC OF HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES OF PLUTO,

SENT BACK FROM NASA’S NEW HORIZONS

SPACECRAFT FROM SEPTEMBER 5 TO 7, 2015.

PLUTO AND ITS MOON CHARON ARE SHOWN IN

ENHANCED COLOUR IN THIS IMAGE, WHICH IS THE

HIGHEST-RESOLUTION COLOUR IMAGE OF THE PAIR

YET RETURNED TO EARTH BY NEW HORIZONS.

NEW HORIZONS HAS DISCOVERED A NEW, APPARENTLY

LESS LOFTY MOUNTAIN RANGE ON THE LOWER-LEFT

EDGE OF PLUTO’S BEST KNOWN FEATURE,

THE ICY MOUNTAINS.

WHILE PLUTO’S LARGEST MOON CHARON HAS GRABBED

MOST OF THE LUNAR SPOTLIGHT, TWO OF PLUTO’S

SMALLER AND LESSER-KNOWN SATELLITES NIX AND

HYDRA HAVE ALSO BEEN CAPTURED BY THE NEW

HORIZONS SPACECRAFT.

THESE NEW IMAGES OF PLUTO AND CHARON HIGHLIGHT

THE COMPOSITIONAL DIVERSITY OF THESE TWO

OBJECTS. PLUTO AND CHARON ARE SOMETIMES

EVEN CONSIDERED A BINARY SYSTEM BECAUSE

THE BARYCENTRE OF THEIR ORBITS DOES NOT LIE

WITHIN EITHER BODY.

THIS PICTURE FEATURES ROUNDED AND BIZARRELY

TEXTURED MOUNTAINS, INFORMALLY NAMED THE

TARTARUS DORSA, RISE UP ALONG PLUTO’S DAY-NIGHT

TERMINATOR AND SHOWS INTRICATE BUT PUZZLING

PATTERNS OF BLUE-GREY RIDGES AND REDDISH

MATERIAL IN BETWEEN.

PLUTO’S BRIGHT, MYSTERIOUS “HEART” IS ROTATING

INTO VIEW, READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP ON CLOSE

APPROACH, IN THIS IMAGE TAKEN BY NEW HORIZONS

ON JULY 12 FROM A DISTANCE OF 1.6 MILLION MILES

(2.5 MILLION KILOMETRES).