New Horizons Color Images Reveal Two Distinct Faces of Pluto, Series of Spots that Fascinate Two Faces of Pluto, In Color Two Faces of Pluto, In Color (annotated)

Pluto shows two remarkably different sides in these color images of the planet and its largest moon Charon taken by New Horizons on June 25 and June 27. The images were made from black-and-white images combined with lower-resolution color data. The left image shows the side of Pluto that will be seen at highest resolution when New Horizons makes its close approach on July 14. The hemisphere is dominated by a very dark region that extends along the equator. The right image is of the side that faces Charon; the most dramatic feature on this side of Pluto is a row of dark spots arranged along the equator. (The equator appears near the bottom of the images, as only about half of the planet is shown.) Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute New color images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft show two very different faces of the mysterious dwarf planet, one with a series of intriguing spots along the equator that are evenly spaced. Each of the spots is about 300 miles in diameter, with a surface area that's roughly the size of the state of Missouri. Scientists have yet to see anything quite like the dark spots; their presence has piqued the interest of the New Horizons science team, due to the remarkable consistency in their spacing and size. While the origin of the spots is a mystery for now, the answer may be revealed as the spacecraft continues its approach to the mysterious dwarf planet. "It's a real puzzle—we don't know what the spots are, and we can't wait to find out," said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder. "Also puzzling is the longstanding and dramatic difference in the colors and appearance of Pluto compared to its darker and grayer moon Charon." New Horizons team members combined black-and-white images of Pluto and Charon from the spacecraft's Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) with lower-resolution color data from the Ralph instrument to produce these views. We see the planet and its largest moon in approximately true color, that is, the way they would appear if you were riding on the New Horizons spacecraft. About half of Pluto is imaged, which means features shown near the bottom of the dwarf planet are at approximately at the equatorial line.

More New Horizons News for Wednesday, July 1 Artist's conception of clouds in Pluto's atmosphere. Credit: JHUAPL Instruments Prepare to Search for Clouds in Pluto's Atmosphere If Pluto has clouds, New Horizons can detect them. Both the high-resolution LORRI imager and the Ralph color imager will be used to look for clouds across the face of Pluto during its approach and departure from the planet. "We're looking for clouds in our images using a number of techniques," said science team postdoc Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute, "If we find clouds, their presence will allow us to track the speeds and directions of Pluto's winds."

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute New Horizons Team Says "Bravo!" To Earth-Based Pluto Observers For more than two decades, planetary scientists have raced to get a spacecraft to Pluto against predictions that its atmosphere would disappear—literally freezing onto the surface—before it could be explored. This week, planetary scientists using ground-based telescopes and NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory confirmed that "Pluto's atmosphere is alive and well, and has not frozen out on the surface," according to New Horizons deputy project scientist Leslie Young, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder. Added Young, "We're delighted!" "The SOFIA observations will also be essential for linking ground-based studies to the results from the New Horizons Pluto encounter for decades to come", said Cathy Olkin, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, co-investigator on NASA's New Horizons mission.

The location of New Horizons' Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument is shown. Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute PEPSSI Instrument Tastes Pluto's Atmosphere The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument aboard New Horizons is sending back data daily, sampling the space environment near Pluto. PEPSSI is designed to detect ions (atoms that have lost or gained one or more electrons) that have escaped from Pluto's atmosphere. As they depart, these atoms become caught up in the solar wind, the stream of subatomic particles that emanates from the Sun. PEPSSI's job is to tell scientists about the composition of Pluto's escaping atmosphere and how quickly the atmosphere is escaping. New Horizons is now less than 9.5 million miles (15 million kilometers) from the Pluto system. The spacecraft is healthy and all systems are operating normally. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

To view images from New Horizons and learn more about the mission visit: http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons and http://pluto.jhuapl.edu Follow the New Horizons mission on social media, and use the hashtag #PlutoFlyby to join the conversation. The mission's official NASA Twitter account is @NASANewHorizons. Live updates are available on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/new.horizons1