Top 10 Pluto Images From New Horizons

New Horizons Press Release:

One year ago, NASA’s New Horizons mission made history by exploring Pluto and its moons – giving humankind our first real look at this fascinating world on the frontier of our solar system.

Since those amazing days in July 2015 the New Horizons spacecraft has transmitted numerous images and many other kinds of data home for scientists and the public alike to study, analyze, and just plain love. From Pluto’s iconic “heart” and sweeping ice‐ mountain vistas to its flowing glaciers and dramatic blue skies, it’s hard to pick just one favorite picture. So the mission team has picked 10 – and in no special order, placed them here.

Vast Glacial Flows

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Jagged Ice Shorelines and Snowy Pits

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Blue Skies

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Charon Becomes a Real World

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The Vistas of Pluto

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

A Dynamic Duo: Pluto and Charon in Enhanced Color

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Strange Snakeskin Terrain

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Pluto’s Heart

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Far Away Snow‐Capped Mountains

Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Colorful Composition Maps of Pluto

The powerful instruments on New Horizons not only gave scientists insight on what Pluto looked like, their data also confirmed (or, in many cases, dispelled) their ideas of what Pluto was made of. These compositional maps – assembled using data from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) component of the Ralph instrument – indicate the regions rich in ices of methane (CH4), nitrogen (N2) and carbon monoxide (CO), and, of course, water ice (H2O). Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

To access the full features of Pluto Safari please download the FREE app for iOS from the Apple App Store or Pluto Safari: New Horizons for Android from Google Play.

Alternatively, if you have SkySafari or Pluto Safari installed you could download the simulation settings file here.