NASA's New Horizons Reveals that Pluto May Have a Polar Ice Cap

New Horizons is closing in on Pluto and now, images from the spacecraft reveal a bit more about the surface of this icy planet. It turns out that Pluto may actually have an ice cap, which tells scientists a bit more about the dwarf planet.

"As we approach the Pluto system we are starting to see intriguing features such as a bright region near Pluto's visible pole, starting the great scientific adventure to understand this enigmatic celestial object," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a news release. "As we get closer, the excitement is building in our quest to unravel the mysteries of Pluto using data from New Horizons."

New Horizons has traveled for more than nine years through space and finally, it's revealing new details about the tiny planet. The images show new details about Pluto, such as the fact that it has a complex surface.

The images themselves were captured in early to mid-April from within 70 million miles, using the telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera on New Horizons. A technique called image deconvolution sharpened the raw, unprocessed images beamed back to Earth. The researchers found that Pluto has broad surface markings-some bright and some dark-including a bright area at one pole that may actually be a polar cap.

"We can only imagine what surprises will be revealed when New Horizons passes approximately 7,800 miles above Pluto's surface this summer," said Hal Weaver, the mission's project scientist.

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