Pluto Picture of the Day

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2015 July 14

Persistence

Explanation: Today is an affirmation that persistence does pay off.

Image credit: Corporate Impressions © 1999 Successories, Inc.

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2015 July 13

Pluto and Charon from New Horizons

Explanation: A colorized stack of three New Horizons' LORRI images of Pluto and Charon from 7 July 2015.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Daniel Machacek, courtesy of unmannedspaceflight.com.

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2015 July 12

A Heart on Pluto

Explanation: In the early morning hours of July 8, 2015, mission scientists received this new view of Pluto-- the most detailed yet returned by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard New Horizons. The image was taken on July 7, when the NASA spacecraft was just under 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) from Pluto, and is the first to be received since the July 4 anomaly that sent the spacecraft into safe mode. This view is centered roughly on the area that will be seen close-up during New Horizons' July 14 closest approach.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 July 11

The Whale and the Donut

Explanation: This map of Pluto, created from images taken from June 27-July 3, 2015, by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on New Horizons, was combined with lower-resolution color data from the spacecraft's Ralph instrument. The center of the map corresponds to the side of Pluto that will be seen close-up during New Horizons' July 14 flyby.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 July 10

Latest Images of Pluto from New Horizons

Explanation: These are the most recent high-resolution views of Pluto sent by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, including one showing the four mysterious dark spots on Pluto that have captured the imagination of the world. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) obtained these three images between July 1 and 3 of 2015, prior to the July 4 anomaly that sent New Horizons into safe mode. This color version of the July 3 LORRI image was created by adding color data from the Ralph instrument gathered earlier in the mission.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 July 9

Latest Images of Pluto from New Horizons

Explanation: These are the most recent high-resolution views of Pluto sent by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, including one showing the four mysterious dark spots on Pluto that have captured the imagination of the world. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) obtained these three images between July 1 and 3 of 2015, prior to the July 4 anomaly that sent New Horizons into safe mode.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 July 8

Pluto: The 'Other' Red Planet

Explanation: New Horizons scientists combined the latest black and white map of Pluto's surface features (left) with a map of the planet's colors (right) to produce a detailed color portrait of the planet's northern hemisphere (center).

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 July 7

Atlas V Interplanetary Payloads

Explanation: Illustration showing Atlas V Centaur upper stages with the New Horizons spacecraft and the Mars Science Lander spacecraft. Both missions were launched on Atlas V Rockets. (An astronaut is included as a scale reference.).

Image credit: historicspacecraft.com.

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2015 July 6

Pluto and Charon

Explanation: This is an artist's illustration picture of Pluto and Charon seen from one of its smaller moons. Pluto is the large disk right in the middle of the photograph, and Charon is the smaller one over to the right. Pluto's other tiny moon is the bright object to the left, just above the horizon.

Image credit: NASA, courtesy of Universe Today.

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2015 July 5

Karl Whittenburg

Explanation: Operations team member Karl Whittenburg at the New Horizons 18th and final hybernation wake up from Mission Control at the Applied Physics Laboratory.

Image credit: © michael soluri / michaelsoluri.com.

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2015 July 4

New Horizons Stars and Stripes

Explanation: The New Horizons spacecraft is adorned with two American flag - this view of the spacecraft is from November 2005 during the final preparations for launch.

Image credit: NASA.

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2015 July 3

Pluto and Charon in Color: LORRI + MVIC

Explanation: A lower-resolution MVIC color image from May was used to colorize a higher-resolution LORRI image to make this view of Pluto and Charon in color.

Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Ian Regan, courtesy of The Planetary Society.

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2015 July 2

The Wait: New Horizons at Pluto

Explanation: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will do its closest flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015. "The Wait" alludes to not just New Horizons' 9-year, 3-billion-mile journey, but also the anticipation of people from all walks of life, excited about the first good look at Pluto. Don't miss it as the fastest moving spacecraft to date is nearing the end of an epic journey to visit the final unexplored planet in our solar system and beyond, to the new horizons we will discover on the other side. Music is "Renegades" performed by the X Ambassadors, courtesy of Interscope Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises, Universal Music Publishing Group, and SONGS publishing.

Image credit: NASA.gov Video.

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2015 July 1

Various KBOs

Explanation: A comparison (relative sizes and colors) of a selection of large Kuiper Belt objects, along with three large main-belt asteroids.

Image credit: NASA, courtesy of spaceref.com.

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2015 June 30

More and More Detail

Explanation: Björn Jónsson's processed, four-image stack of New Horizons Pluto images obtained by the LORRI instrument on 23 June 2015.

Image credit: Björn Jónsson.

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2015 June 29

Ramping Up

Explanation: Daily science team meetings to discuss new results are already taking place at APL, where the New Horizons mission is operated. About one-third of the science team is now in residence at APL; by July 1 that will rise to two-thirds, and by July 6 we'll be at full strength.

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

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2015 June 28

Final Pre-encounter Science Team Meeting

Explanation: Dr. Fran Bagenal, a New Horizons Co-Investigator, is an astrophysical planetary scientist from the University of Colorado/Boulder.

Image credit: © michael soluri / michaelsoluri.com.