New Horizons snaps new photos of Pluto

Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are seen from over 200 million kilometers away in new pictures taken January 25 and January 27 by the New Horizons spacecraft.

NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute

By Christopher Crockett

February 4, 2015 at 8:08 pm

Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, were captured in a couple of snapshots, the first taken by the New Horizons probe since the spacecraft awoke from a long slumber in December. The spacecraft was just over 200 million kilometers from the duo when it took the pictures on January 25 and 27.

New Horizons is now on the final leg of its nine-year journey, which will culminate in a flyby of Pluto on July 14. Pluto will continue to look like a smudge of light until May, when images will finally rival those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.