Psychedelic Pluto

Psychedelic Pluto. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

New Horizons scientists made this false color image of Pluto using a technique called principal component analysis to highlight the many subtle color differences between Pluto's distinct regions. The technique brings out detail not seen with the naked eye, bringing out details and patterns that would be difficult to see otherwise.

New Horizons is currently 145,453,249 KM from Pluto. In the last few weeks, a series of four maneuvers placed the spacecraft on track for a flyby of Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 on January 2019.

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.