Published on: 11/22/2015IST

Anuj Tiwari Last updated on: 11/22/2015, Permalink

---

---

NASA recently released images of what a day in Pluto and its moon, Charon, look like. Images were taken from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera from their New Horizons spacecraft. 

One day in Pluto is equivalent to 6.4 Earth days. The more distant images that can be seen at the 3 o'clock position show us another side of the planet that the New Horizons missed during their closest approach on July 14th. 

The side New Horizons saw in most detail, called the 'encounter hemisphere', during their approach is at the 6 o'clock position. These images show the differences between the encounter hemisphere and the 'far side' that could only be seen before in lower resolution. Dimples in the bottom (south) edge of Pluto’s disk are artifacts of the way the images were combined to create these composites.

Pluto

Even Charon, Pluto's moon, rotates once every 6.4 days. You could make out a few signature surface features such as cratered uplands, canyons, or rolling plains of the informally named Vulcan Planum at the 9 o'clock position. The side New Horizons saw in most detail during their approach on the 14th of July could be seen at the 12 o'clock position. The dimples in the bottom edge of Charon’s disk are artifacts of the way the New Horizons images were combined to create these composites.

Charon

Beautiful, aren't they?