NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back a stunning image of Pluto, showing sunlight filtering through and illuminating the icy dwarf planet’s complex atmospheric haze layers.
The image was captured by the New Horizons minutes after its closest approach on July 14 last year, NASA said.
The southern portions of the nitrogen ice plains informally named Sputnik Planum, as well as mountains of the informally named Norgay Montes, can also be seen across Pluto’s crescent in the image.
The image was obtained at a high phase angle — that is, with the Sun on the other side of Pluto, as viewed by New Horizons.
Such images give scientists information about Pluto’s hazes and surface properties that they can not get from images taken on approach.
The image was obtained by New Horizons’ Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC) approximately 21,550 kilometres from Pluto, about 19 minutes after the spacecraft’s closest approach.