Space & Astronomy

Incredible close-up images of Pluto revealed

By T.K. Randall
December 5, 2015

Image: Pluto - New Horizons (2015)
Credit: (PD) NASA As if the previous images returned by the spacecraft weren't already impressive enough, this latest series of photographs shows the planet's surface in such extreme detail that it looks more like something you'd expect to see from a plane over the Earth than a planet 3.6 billion miles away.

The high resolution pictures, which were shot 10000 miles above the surface, show Pluto's incredible icy plains and enigmatic mountain ranges in more detail than ever before."These close-up images, showing the diversity of terrain on Pluto, demonstrate the power of our robotic planetary explorers to return intriguing data to scientists back here on planet Earth," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"New Horizons thrilled us during the July flyby with the first close images of Pluto, and as the spacecraft transmits the treasure trove of images in its onboard memory back to us, we continue to be amazed by what we see."

A full mosaic of the new photographs can be viewed on NASA's website - here.

Source: Independent

Tags: Pluto, New Horizons