PARIS: NASA’s latest Pluto pictures depict an entire day on the dwarf planet.
The space agency released a series of 10 close-ups of the frosty, faraway world today, representing one Pluto day, which is equivalent to 6.4 Earth days.
The New Horizons spacecraft took the pictures as it zoomed past Pluto in an unprecedented flyby in July. Pluto was between 400,000 and 5 million miles from the camera for these photos.
The more distant images contribute to the view at the 3 o’clock position, with the top of the heart-shaped, informally named Tombaugh Regio slipping out of view, giving way to the side of Pluto that was facing away from New Horizons during closest approach on July 14.
The side New Horizons saw in most detail – what the mission team calls the ‘encounter hemisphere’ – is at the 6 o’clock position.
These images and others like them reveal many details about Pluto, including the differences between the encounter hemisphere and the so-called ‘far side’ hemisphere seen only at lower resolution.
A similar series of shots were taken of Pluto’s jumbo moon, Charon.
Charon – like Pluto – rotates once every 6.4 Earth days. The photos were taken as New Horizons closed in over a range of 6.4 million miles (10.2 million km).
