New Horizons Space Probe Brings First Set of High-Resolution Images of Pluto

NASA’s New Horizons space probe has sent back the first set of high-resolution images of Pluto ever seen.
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New Horizons Space Probe Brings First Set of High-Resolution Images of Pluto
(NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
Zachary Stieber
12/5/2015
Updated:
12/7/2015

NASA’s New Horizons space probe has sent back the first set of high-resolution images of Pluto ever seen.

The probe flew through the Pluto system on July 14, and is transmitting data from that time each week to Earth.

The latest pictures reveal an unprecedented amount of detail for the planet, including a wide variety of mountainous and glacial terrains.

This highest-resolution image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveals new details of Pluto's rugged, icy cratered plains, including layering in the interior walls of many craters. "Impact craters are nature's drill rigs, and the new, highest-resolution pictures of the bigger craters seem to show that Pluto's icy crust, at least in places, is distinctly layered," said William McKinnon, deputy lead of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team, from Washington University in St. Louis. "Looking into Pluto's depths is looking back into geologic time, which will help us piece together Pluto's geological history." (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
This highest-resolution image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveals new details of Pluto's rugged, icy cratered plains, including layering in the interior walls of many craters. "Impact craters are nature's drill rigs, and the new, highest-resolution pictures of the bigger craters seem to show that Pluto's icy crust, at least in places, is distinctly layered," said William McKinnon, deputy lead of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team, from Washington University in St. Louis. "Looking into Pluto's depths is looking back into geologic time, which will help us piece together Pluto's geological history." (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)

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The data transmission is so slow because information has to travel so far.

“It was a great moment when we saw the signal come back and knew that the spacecraft had survived,” he says. “Now it’s our job to get the data that will be trickling back to us. There are lots of new discoveries to come.”