On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made history by flying less than 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) above Pluto's surface, the closest approach any spacecraft has made to the dwarf planet. During this flyby, New Horizons captured the most accurate natural color images of Pluto, revealing detailed features such as towering ice mountains, heart-shaped plains, and a complex icy world. The mission also provided close-up observations of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, including images showing its nitrogen plains, icy peaks, and giant faults. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of this milestone, NASA has re-released a refined version of the iconic Pluto images. The New Horizons flyby marked a significant advancement in planetary exploration, offering unprecedented insights into the Pluto system and its moons.
Clearest image of Jupiter ever taken. By NASA https://t.co/jkbMy6ZhzB
Clearest image ever taken of Mercury NASA https://t.co/z0bRrNFxuq
Sometimes, impatience becomes iconic. When Mariner 4 flew past Mars in 1965, it sent the first-ever up-close images of another world – but the digital images took *hours* to process, so engineers at JPL came up with a "color-by-numbers" workaround. https://t.co/U1lLlsk3ji https://t.co/nfWtbDc9vY