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Pluto and Charon Seen by New Horizons
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
New Horizons LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) composite image showing the detection of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, cleanly separated from Pluto itself. The frame on the left is an average of six different LORRI images, each taken with an exposure time of 0.1 second. The frame to the right is the same composite image but with Pluto and Charon circled; Pluto is the brighter object near the center and Charon is the fainter object near its 11 o’clock position. Images released July 10, 2013. [
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Charon Visible Orbiting Pluto
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Charon is visible for the first time in pictures taken by the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft. Image released July 10, 2013. [
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Charon as a 'Bump' on Pluto
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Charon is visible as a “bump” moving around Pluto in the moon’s discovery images, taken with the 1.55-meter (61-inch) Kaj Strand Astrometric Reflector at the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Flagstaff Station in 1978. [
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Kerberos and Styx Welcomed to Pluto System
Credit: IAU
The International Astronomical Union has officially approved Kerberos and Styx as the new names for two of Pluto's moons. Image released on July 2, 2013.
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Pluto Moons Names Styx and Kerberos
Credit: SETI
The moons of Pluto, including newly named Styx and Kerberos (formerly P5 and P4), are shown in this SETI image during a Google+ Hangout webcast unveiling the new names on July 2, 2013.
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Colors of Pluto
Credit: Hubble
Dwarf planet Pluto is seen in an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Pluto's Satellite System Showing New Fourth Moon
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)
Illustration of the Pluto satellite system orbits with newly discovered moon P4 highlighted, released July 20, 2011.
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Pluto System Showing Fifth Moon (P5)
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute)
This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle marks the newly discovered moon, designated P5, as photographed by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on July 7, 2012.
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Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto (Unannotated)
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute)
A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. Image released July 11, 2012.
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Pluto-bound Spacecraft Spots Its Target
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.
A white arrow marks Pluto in this New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) picture taken Sept. 21, 2006, marking the spacecraft's first look at its target planet.
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Pluto Infographic
Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com
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Fourth Moon Discovered Around Pluto
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI institute)
Two labeled images of the Pluto system, released on July 20, 2011, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 ultraviolet visible instrument with newly discovered fourth moon P4 circled. The image on the left was taken on June 28, 2011. The image of the right was taken on July 3, 2011.
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Hubble Finds Pluto's Moons Less than Colorful
Credit: NASA/ESA/A. Stern/H. Weaver/HST Pluto Companion Search Team.
These NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of Pluto and its moons were taken on March 2, 2006.
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Compass and Scale Image of Pluto
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI institute)
New annotated image showing Pluto and moons, including the newly discovered P4, released July 20, 2011.
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Trick Allows Scrutiny of Pluto's Moon
Credit: MIT and Williams College
From left to right is the before, during and after of the occultation of C313.2 by Charon on July 11. The brightest object in the center of the frame is Pluto. Below and to the left is the merged light from Charon and the background star. During the occultation (center image), only Charon is visible. The images are from the 6.5-meter Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
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Two More Moons Discovered Orbiting Pluto
Credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/APL/SwRI
Hubble images revealing Pluto, its large moon Charon, and the planet's two new satellites. The candidate moons aren't visible in the short-exposure image [left], but can be seen in the middle and right-hand images.
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New Portrait Made of Pluto and Its Moons
Credit: David Tholen
An image of the Pluto system taken with the one of the ground-based Keck telescopes in Hawaii. The Pluto system moved with respect to the background stars during the one hour of observations, leaving the stars trailed in this image.
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Pluto Unveiled
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)
This is the most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003. The center disk (180 degrees) has a mysterious bright spot that is unusually rich in carbon monoxide frost. The image was released in February 2010.
See the dwarf planet turn in a video based on these images.
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To Pluto with Postage: Nine Souvenirs Stow Away on NASA Probe
Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI)
This artist's rendering depicts the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its moons in summer 2015.
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The Pluto System As Seen from Nix or Hydra
Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI).
The artist's concept gives a view of the Pluto system from the surface of Nix or Hydra, two of its moons discovered in 2005. Nix and Hydra are two to three times farther from Pluto than its large moon, Charon (to the right of Pluto), which was discovered in 1978.
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Pluto's Identity Crisis Hits Classrooms and Bookstores
Credit: Lowell Observatory.
The announcement of Pluto's discovery in 1930, put out by the Lowell Observatory a few weeks after the observations had been made and analyzed.
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Pluto's Atmosphere Warmer than Thought
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
Artist’s impression of how the surface of Pluto might look. The image shows patches of pure methane on the surface.
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Pluto's Moon Is an Ice Machine
Credit: Software Bisque, Mark C. Petersen, Loch Ness Productions, Sky-Skan, Inc.
An artist's conception of Charon with Pluto in the background. The plumes and brighter spots depicted on Charon are thought to due to ammonia-laced water erupting from deep beneath the moon's surface.
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Artist's Impression of Dwarf Planet Eris
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris. New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. Eris is extremely reflective and its surface is probably covered in frost formed from the frozen remains of its atmosphere.
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Occultation of Dwarf Planet Eris in November 2010
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
This diagram shows the path of a faint star during the occultation of the dwarf planet Eris in November 2010. Two sites in South America saw the faint star briefly disappear as its light was blocked by Eris and another recorded no change in brightness. Studies of where the event was seen, and for how long, have allowed astronomers to measure the size of Eris accurately for the first time. Surprisingly, they find it to be almost exactly the same size as Pluto and that it has a very reflective surface.
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Artist’s Impression of the Dwarf Planet Eris and Moon Dysnomia
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris in the distance with its moon Dysmonia in the foreground. New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. Eris is extremely reflective and its surface is probably covered in frost formed from the frozen remains of its atmosphere. Dysnomia appears to be a darker and less reflective body.
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Dwarf Planet Eris' Shadow Path During November 2010 Occultation
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
This artist’s impression shows the shadow of the dwarf planet Eris as it was crossing the Earth during the occultation during November 2010. The regions along the path saw a faint star briefly disappear as its light was blocked by Eris. Studies of where the event was seen, and for how long, have allowed astronomers to measure the size of Eris accurately for the first time. Surprisingly, they find it to be almost exactly the same size as Pluto and that it has a very reflective surface.
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Artist's Impression of the Dwarf Planet Eris
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris. New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. Eris is extremely reflective and its surface is probably covered in frost formed from the frozen remains of its atmosphere. The distant Sun appears to the upper right and both Eris and its moon Dysnomia (center) appear as crescents.
