Pluto's Day Side: New Images Show the Changing Faces of the Dwarf Planet

Pluto's day is about 6.4 Earth days long. This means that getting an image of each sunlit "side" of Pluto can be challenging. Now, though, scientists have compiled images of Pluto that show off its various sunlit faces.

The new images were taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera as the distance between New Horizons and Pluto decreased from 5 million miles on July 7 to 400,000 miles on July 13.

The more distant images contribute to the view at the 3 o'clock position, with the top of the heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio slipping out of view. This gives way to the side of Pluto that was facing away from New Horizons during its closest approach on July 14. The side that New Horizons saw most in detail, what the mission team called the "encounter hemisphere," is at that 6 o'clock position.

These images could reveal more details about Pluto and may tell scientists a bit more about the dwarf planet Pluto. This may include differences between the encounter hemisphere and the so-called "far side" hemisphere seen only at lower resolution. Dimples in the bottom (south) edge of Pluto's disk are artifacts of the way the images were combined to create these composites.

For more information about the New Horizons mission and to learn a bit more bout Pluto, visit NASA's website.

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