Far out in space, far from Earth, instruments on the New Horizons spacecraft have been humming with activity – collecting data from Pluto’s surface. The spacecraft began taking pictures and collecting data of Pluto at a distance of 31,000 miles, using it’s on-board Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI).
New Horizons spacecraft was able to get as close as 10,000 miles from the planet Pluto, as it accomplished its historic flyby, and much data was collected. Thankfully, NASA has decided to release a surprisingly detailed image of an area of Pluto’s surfaced named the Viking Terra region.
It is truly amazing to view Pluto’s surface, to actually see the effects of the planet’s weather system on the landscape. The composite image is not as detailed as the public wanted, the smallest object being 1,600 feet across, but viewers are still able to make out the planet’s landscape, which is incredibly similar to Earth’s surface in many ways.
