New Horizons: Pluto and Charon Newly Imaged in Color

First Posted: Jul 15, 2015 09:11 AM EDT

New Horizons has already beamed back impressive new images of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. Now, though, scientists are taking a closer look at the compositional diversity of these worlds, using color in order to define these features a bit more.

In this case, images were obtained by using three of the color filters of the "Ralph" instrument on July 13 at 3:38 a.m. EDT. New Horizons has seven instruments onboard.

"These images show that Pluto and Charon are truly complex worlds, said Will Grundy, New Horizons co-investigator, in a news release. "There's a whole lot going on here. Our surface composition team is working as fast as we can to identify the substances in different regions on Pluto and unravel the processes that put them where they are."

The color data actually helps scientists understand the molecular make-up of ices on the surfaces of Pluto and Charon, as well as the age of geologic features such as craters. They can also tell scientists about surface changes caused by space "weather," such as radiation.

The new color images reveal that the "heart" on Pluto actually is composed of two different-colored regions. There's a western lobe shaped like an ice cream cone that appears peach colored in the image, and a mottled area in the east that looks bluish. A mid-latitude band appears in shades ranging from pale blue through red.

Similarly, the surface of Charon is just as colorful. It appears that, like Pluto, the moon has a complex environment on its surface.

"We make these color images to highlight the variety of surface environments present in the Pluto system," said Dennis Reuter, co-investigator. "They show us in an intuitive way that there is much still to learn from the data coming down."

The findings reveal a bit more about the Pluto system. More specifically, they show that we're dealing with complex worlds.

To keep up to date with the New Horizons mission, visit their Facebook group.