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Pluto’s dark side

Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Southwest Research Institute/NOIRLab
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Southwest Research Institute/NOIRLab

The encounter at Pluto lasted for only a few heartbeats as New Horizons zipped past the dwarf planet at speeds reaching 52,000 miles per hour (84,000 km/hr). The probe was unable to capture clear images of Pluto’s dark side, but scientists did manage to generate a view using 360 images that New Horizons captured as it looked back.