We are 179 days away from New Horizon’s closest approach to Pluto, but that doesn’t mean the NASA spacecraft will be twiddling its robotic thumbs until then. As of today, it’s starting to record precious data about this mysterious dwarf planet and its surroundings.
Top image: A computer generated map of Pluto based on Hubble data. Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, NASA HST
https://gizmodo.com/the-surface-of-pluto-like-youve-never-seen-it-before-1464316546
NASA doesn’t have any pictures for us yet, but the spacecraft has started to scan for dust and plasma in the immediate area near Pluto.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/555763619154386946
We can expect to see the first images during the first week of February, and the first better-than-Hubble images in May.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/555766554269593601
That said, all incoming images will still be incredibly valuable and unique.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/555767791803191296
It’s worth pointing out that New Horizons did snap a pick of Pluto from the vicinity of Neptune back in August before it went into hibernation mode:
(NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)
More about New Horizons and the mission at NASA and Space.com.
