NASA’s New Horizons Mission has released a high-resolution enhanced-color mosaic of Pluto, showing a beautiful swath of the dwarf planet’s surface.
Enhanced color mosaic image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft showing some of the sharpest views of the dwarf planet yet. Click image to see a MUCH LARGER vertical version. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRIThe image above shows a potions of the “badlands” region northwest of the Sputnik Planum, across the al-Idrisi mountain range, over the shores of Pluto’s now iconic “heart” feature, to the edge of vast icy plains of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices. The images used to create this mosaic have resolutions of about 77-85 meters (250-280 feet) per pixel, revealing features smaller than half a city block.
Note: The names of geologic features on Pluto are currently all provisional, until approved by the IAU.
High-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto. Click to see a GIANT version of this image. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
New Horizons Beaming Data Towards Earth on 21 Dec 2015. Created in NASA Eyes on the Solar System AppEducational Resources
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Read More:
Johns Hopkins University Press Release: New Horizons Returns the First of Its Very Best Images of Pluto
NASA Press Release: NASA’s New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’
NASA News Feature: New Horizons Discovers Flowing Ices on Pluto
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