Stunning New Space Animations: Soar Over Pluto and Its Moon
July 17, 2017 - NASA released highly detailed animations of the surfaces of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. To create them, scientists analyzed close-up pictures and data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. They then rendered the information into images that show Pluto's icy, cratered terrain and Charon’s canyons and mountains. The spacecraft captured its prized data when if flew by Pluto in July 2015 as part of its mission to explore the Kuiper Belt.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Paul Schenk and John Blackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Transcript
NASA released these highly detailed videos of the surfaces of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon.
To make them, scientists analyzed close-up pictures and data collected by the New Horizon spacecraft.
They then rendered the information into images that show the dwarf planet’s icy and cratered terrain.
They enhanced the color and topography of Charon’s surface to bring out the canyons and mountains in great detail.
The New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto in July 2015 as part of its mission to explore the Kuiper Belt.
