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. NASA's New Horizons space probe, now halfway to Pluto, will get sharper images of Pluto when it is six months away from a close flyby in 2015.
Hubble's view isn't sharp enough to see craters or mountains, if they exist on the surface, but Hubble reveals a complex-looking and variegated world with white, dark-orange, and charcoal-black terrain. The overall color is believed to be a result of ultraviolet radiation from the distant Sun breaking up methane that is present on Pluto's surface, leaving behind a dark, molasses-colored, carbon-rich residue.
Pluto is so small and distant that the task of resolving the surface is as challenging as trying to see the markings on a soccer ball 40 miles away. The Hubble raw images are a few pixels wide. But through a technique called dithering, multiple, slightly offset pictures can be combined through computer-image processing to synthesize a higher-resolution view than could be seen in a single exposure. This series of pictures took four years and 20 computers operating continuously and simultaneously to accomplish.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Pluto |
| Object Description | Dwarf Planet |
| Distance | Pluto is on an eccentric orbit that varies between 29.6 AU and 49.3 AU from the Sun. The average distance during the time of these observations was 30.6 AU (Jan. 2003). In 2010, Pluto is 31.8 AU from the Sun and moving away. It will reach its furthest distance from the Sun in 2130. |
| Dimensions | Pluto has a diameter of roughly 1,440 miles (2,320 km) at the equator. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals : A. Stern (Southwest Research Institute), L. Trafton (University of Texas, Austin), and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute); and : M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and E. Young, L. Young, and A. Stern (Southwest Research Institute). The science team comprises: M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and E. Young, L. Young, and A. Stern (Southwest Research Institute). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/HRC |
| Exposure Dates | June 2002 - June 2003 |
| Filters | F435W (B) and F555W (V) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the ACS/HRC instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
