NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft/probe has taken the first ever colour photo of Pluto and Charon, it’s largest moon
But don’t get too excited, the colour photo was taken from a distance of about 71 million miles away using the Ralph Color Imager, so although you can clearly see variations in colour, the image is blurry at best. Hopefully there will be clearer photos available after July 14th when New Horizon get closer to Pluto.
This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 9 and downlinked to Earth the following day. It is the first color image ever made of the Pluto system by a spacecraft on approach. The image is a preliminary reconstruction, which will be refined later by the New Horizons science team. Clearly visible are both Pluto and the Texas-sized Charon. The image was made from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers)-roughly the distance from the Sun to Venus. At this distance, neither Pluto nor Charon is well resolved by the color imager, but their distinctly different appearances can be seen. As New Horizons approaches its flyby of Pluto on July 14, it will deliver color images that eventually show surface features as small as a few miles across.
Source: NASA/New Horizons
