The Next Image of Pluto

I feel this will be a recurring theme with my posts, especially for those who read my blog on a regular basis.  I love Pluto and am fascinated by new horizons.  Its like a kitten chasing a ball of yarn.  But with so many new possibilities popping up with Pluto as the new horizons rendezvous draws near, its hard to contain my excitement at the prospects of great science.

This image of Pluto and it largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 15, 2015. The image is part of several taken between April 12-18, as the spacecraft’s distance from Pluto decreased from about 69 million miles (111 million kilometers) to 64 million miles (104 million kilometers). Credit: NASA/JHU-APL/SwRI

The latest photo taken from just under 100 Million Km distant, shows some surface features for the first time.  The features are interpreted as broad surface features, some are brigt and others are dark, but the most interesting one is a very bright spot near one of the polar regions of Pluto, that may be a polar cap. New Horizons will pass within 13,000 Km of the surface of Pluto this summer, and to put that in perspective, if you look at the Ceres image I posted a few days ago, that was taken from a similar altitude, so it gives you an idea of what’s in store.

Stay tuned, I guarantee there will be a lot more from Pluto in the coming months, especially since I’m the one writing this blog.

One thought on “The Next Image of Pluto

  1. There are alot more by now : )

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