Goodbye Pluto! Final Image of Dwarf Planet Reveals Strange Hazy Atmosphere
In its final farewell to Pluto, New Horizons has captured an incredible image of the dwarf planet bathed in a mysterious halo.
The shot was taken just seven hours after the probe’s closest approach and shows peculiar layers of haze in the dwarf planet’s atmosphere.
‘This is our equivalent on New Horizons of the Apollo 11 Earthrise,’ said New Horizons’ Alan Stern, adding that the image confirms the probe had succeeded in its mission.
Nasa today also released an image of exotic ice across the dwarf planet’s surface, revealing signs of recent geologic activity – something scientists hoped to find but didn’t expect.
‘We’ve only seen surfaces like this on active worlds like Earth and Mars,’ said mission co-investigator John Spencer of SwRI. ‘I’m really smiling.’
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