Pluto photos from NASA's New Horizons still captivating scientists decade later
For decades, Pluto remained one of the most mysterious objects in our solar system, until July 14, 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft became the first mission to visit it up close, capturing breathtaking images of the distant world.
It took over nine years for New Horizons to reach Pluto after blasting off atop an Atlas 5 rocket on Jan. 19, 2006. After traveling billions of miles through the solar system, New Horizons sent home stunning images of Pluto and its moons, making headlines around the world.
It took more than 15 months for the spacecraft to send all of the 6.25 gigabytes of photos and data home for scientists to study.
"Such a lengthy period was necessary because the spacecraft was roughly 4.5 light-hours from Earth and it could only transmit 1-2 kilobits per second," NASA said.
Here are some of the best images of Pluto and its moon Charon:
A composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. Photo courtesy of NASA
This image of haze layers above Pluto limb was taken by NASA New Horizons spacecraft. About 20 haze layers are seen. Photo courtesy of NASA
Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. The image was taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. Photo by NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Southwest Research Institute
NASA New Horizons scientists believe that the informally named feature Wright Mons, located south of Sputnik Planum on Pluto, and another, Piccard Mons, could have been formed by the cryovolcanic eruption of ices from beneath Pluto's surface. Photo courtesy of NASA and JPL
A detailed global mosaic color map of Pluto is based on a series of three color filter images obtained by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera aboard New Horizons during the NASA spacecraft's close flyby of Pluto in July 2015. Photo by NASA and JPL
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features, approved names of 14 surface features on Pluto in August 2017. Image from NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Southwest Research Institute
An enhanced color mosaic of Pluto taken approximately 15 minutes before New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto. Image by NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Southwest Research Institute
This image was made just 15 minutes after New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, as the spacecraft looked back at Pluto toward the sun. Photo courtesy fo NASA and JPL
The Pluto flyby changed what astronomers thought they knew about that tiny world. Instead of being just a cold rock, Pluto turned out to have ice mountains as tall as the Rockies, strange heart-shaped plains and even signs of possible underground oceans.
The mission also gave us our first close-up look at Pluto's largest moon, Charon, which has deep canyons and a huge dark spot at the pole.
It was like discovering a whole new world hiding at the edge of our solar system.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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An alien comet is now passing through our solar system. Here's what we know
Telescopes around the world are now tracking a new visitor to our celestial neighborhood. Streaking through at a speed and trajectory that not even the Sun's immense gravity can capture, we will only have a short time — perhaps until the end of 2025 or early 2026 — to learn everything we can from alien comet 3I/ATLAS. On July 1, 2025, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope, located in northern Chile, spotted a new object just inside the orbit of Jupiter. ATLAS scans the sky every night looking for any new comets or asteroids, with specific interest in anything that could be on a collision course with Earth. However, this new object, initially named A11pl3Z, caught astronomers' attention for a completely different reason. Its trajectory wouldn't bring it anywhere near Earth. In fact, the closest it will come to us is just inside the orbit of Mars, at a distance of around 240 million kilometers away. For context, that's 90 million kilometres farther than the distance between the Earth and the Sun! This diagram shows the hyperbolic trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the inner solar system. It will make its closest approach to the Sun, just inside the orbit of Mars, in October. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) No, the remarkable thing about A11pl3Z's path wasn't how close it would come to us. Instead, it was where that path traced back to! Newly named Comet 3I/ATLAS is now the third interstellar object we've spotted travelling through our solar system! The first interstellar object discovered, 1I/'Oumuamua in October 2017, was only detected after it passed around the Sun and was on its way back out into the galaxy. Analysis of its trajectory showed that it dove into the inner solar system from 'above', at a very steep angle, passed within the orbit of Mercury, and then slingshotted around the Sun to depart in a completely different direction. There is still some debate about exactly what 'Oumuamua (the Hawaiian word for 'scout') actually was. Observations revealed that it was likely dark red in colour, around 100-200 metres wide, and that it was either shaped like a cigar or a skipping stone, as it tumbled end-over-end passing through the solar system. It wasn't dense enough to be an asteroid, but it didn't behave like a comet, either. To throw some extra mystery into the event, as it departed, it even exhibited a small acceleration that couldn't be easily explained! The most likely answer is that 'Oumuamua was an ancient comet that had lost nearly all of its ice while journeying through the galaxy. However, we still don't know for sure. The paths of 'Oumuamua and Borisov through the inner solar system. (Image courtesy Tony873004/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)) The second object, 2I/Borisov in August 2019, also came from 'above' the solar system, although along a different trajectory than 'Oumuamua. Detected on its way in, astronomers watched it pass just outside the orbit of Mars before continuing on its way, only slightly deviating from its original path. Borisov was far less mysterious, as it exhibited all the characteristics we come to expect from comets. It was on the small side, at only around 500 metres across, but it developed a large coma surrounding the nucleus, and it had a wide, puffy tail as it passed by the orbit of Mars. Borisov's speed, trajectory, and odd chemical composition were the only aspects of the object that really set it apart from 'home grown' comets. This new interstellar object is quite different from the previous two. 3I/ATLAS is most certainly a comet, like 2I/Borisov. Currently just within the orbit of Jupiter, it is already being heated enough by the Sun's rays that a coma of gases has developed around the nucleus, and it has a short tail as well. A stacked image of several observations by the ESO's Very Large Telescope is shown here, to augment the brightness of comet 3I ATLAS and bring out more of its details. The solid nucleus of the comet is located within the bright region on the left side of the 'smudge', however it is currently obscured by the gas, ice, and dust of the comet's coma. (ESO/O. Hainaut) However, that is where the similarities (at least so far) end. From the comet's brightness, astronomers estimate that 3I/ATLAS's nucleus measures anywhere from 10-20 kilometres across. That makes it the largest interstellar object seen so far — at least 100 times the size of 'Oumuamua and 20 times bigger than Borisov. It is also the fastest of the three, travelling at nearly 60 kilometres per second, or 216,000 kph, compared to around 32 km/s for Borisov and 26 km/s for 'Oumuamua. Eight observations of comet 3I/ATLAS are shown here (circled), taken by the ESO's Very Large Telescope over the course of about 13 minutes on the night of July 3, 2025, revealing the movement of the comet against the background stars. (ESO/O. Hainaut) 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov both approached us at very steep angles, entering the system from the general direction that the Sun is travelling through the galaxy. 3I/ATLAS, on the other hand, arrived from the direction of the galactic core, and is passing through the solar system at a much more shallow angle, almost perfectly in line with the ecliptic — the disk that the planets orbit along. Using a computer model based on data collected by the ESA's Gaia telescope, a team of researchers led by Matthew Hopkins of the University of Oxford has proposed that, based on its speed and trajectory, 3I/ATLAS could originate from one of the stars in the Milky Way's thick disk. This map of the Milky Way galaxy was compiled using data from the Gaia mission. The bright region that spans across the centre of the image is the galactic 'thin disk', while the more diffuse regions above and below that are known as the 'thick disk'. (ESA/Gaia/DPAC; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Acknowledgement: A. Moitinho.) Based on what Gaia revealed about the stars in that region of the galaxy, this comet may have been ejected from its home star system long before our Sun even formed! "All non-interstellar comets such as Halley's comet formed with our solar system, so are up to 4.5 billion years old," Hopkins told the Royal Astronomical Society. "But interstellar visitors have the potential to be far older, and of those known about so far our statistical method suggests that 3I/ATLAS is very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen." Right now, with the comet still out near the orbit of Jupiter, it can only be seen with the strongest telescopes we have. 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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
China Could Beat US Back to the Moon, Former Astronaut Warns
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Colonel Terry Virts, a former NASA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station (ISS), has told Newsweek he think's China could "absolutely" win the "second space race" by landing another human on the moon before the United States does. Newsweek contacted NASA for comment via email on Friday outside of regular office hours. Why It Matters In 1969 the U.S. became the first country in history to land astronauts on the moon in a major boost for American prestige worldwide. This took place against the backdrop of the "space race" against the Soviet Union, America's main geopolitical rival at the time, which had successfully put the first astronaut into orbit during in 1961. China has emerged as America's new chief rival, with the duelling superpowers currently clashing over trade, human rights and the sovereignty of both Taiwan and the South China Sea. Beating the U.S. back to the moon would give Beijing a big status boost across the globe. What To Know Asked by Newsweek whether there is "a serious chance China might win the second space race," meaning getting an astronaut to the moon before the U.S. does, Virts replied: "Absolutely. Have you seen America's political system recently? They absolutely might." He later added: "If China wins that race to the moon, if they send the next astronauts to the moon, the whole world is going to say, wow, America had a great century. The 20th century was a great American century. The 21st century is the Chinese century." China has said it plans to land three astronauts on the Moon by 2030. In January, Virts will attempt to secure the Democratic nomination for the Texas Senate seat currently occupied by Republican John Cornyn, with the final contest in November 2026. Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts has warned China could beat the U.S. back to the moon. Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts has warned China could beat the U.S. back to the moon. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty The former astronaut, who served as commander of the ISS in 2015, also hit out at NASA funding cuts, with a proposed 2026 White House budget slashing the agency's funding by 25 percent and reducing its workforce to the lowest level since the early 1960s. He said: "They're cancelling important undergraduate and graduate research at universities, tens of thousands. I just saw we had 90,000 research positions, which is getting cut down to 20,000. "That destroys the American science institution for medicine, for space, for weather, for all kinds of science. This administration and the Republican Party hate science. They hate knowledge. They hate education. They're doing all they can to destroy it. That needs to stop." What People Are Saying During the interview Virts said: "The moon program is a real problem. Do we want to go there and build a big village that just stays in one place and we have a moon base? Or do we want to go there with a small crew, small vehicles, that we can land on the moon and use that as a testing ground to go onto Mars? I don't know. We don't have that as our national vision." Speaking in December 2024 then NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said: "Space is demanding. And we, and our industry and international partners, need this time to make sure that the Orion capsule is ready to safely deliver our astronauts to deep space and back to Earth." During his inauguration speech on January 20 President Donald Trump said: "We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars." What Happens Next NASA hopes to return American astronauts to the moon in the next few years, though the deadline has already slipped significantly. In December 2024 NASA said its planned date for Artemis 2 moon mission, which would take astronauts around the moon, had been delayed from September 2025 to April 2026, while a planned landing with Artemis 3 went from late 2026 to mid-2027.
Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Former Astronaut Terry Virts Reveals Plan to Turn Texas Blue
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Colonel Terry Virts has been an Air Force pilot, a NASA astronaut, and even a International Space Station commander. But now he's embarking on what could be considered his most challenging mission to date—becoming the first Democrat in decades to break the Republican stranglehold over Texan politics. It's been more than 30 years since Bob Bullock was re-elected as Texas Lieutenant General in 1994, the last time a Texan Democrat won a statewide election. Since then a succession of Democrats have sought to revive their party's fortunes in the Lone Star State, the second most populous in the Union, but thus far all have been vanquished. In January, Virts became the latest Democrat to challenge the Republican hegemony when he announced he is running for the Senate in 2026, targeting the seat currently occupied by the GOP's John Cornyn. With the Texas Republican Party rocked by infighting, Democrats hope now is their time to achieve the decades-long dream of turning Texas purple and eroding the GOP's wafer-thin Senate majority. NASA Career Virts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1967. After leaving high school he joined the U.S. Air Force, graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1989 to begin a career as an F-16 pilot. In 2000, Virts was selected to join NASA as part of Astronaut Group 18, going on to pilot the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station in 2010, before returning to the ISS in December 2014 and serving as its commander for part of 2015. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/AP/Canva Virts told Newsweek it was through NASA that his association with Texas began, moving to the state 25 years ago to be near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He said: "I've lived in Asia, Europe, Middle East. I've lived around the planet. I've lived off the planet. I've lived in Texas longer than anywhere on or off Earth. So this is my home." Texas Floods Virts said that the devastating Texas floods, which killed at least 120 people, including children at a summer camp, and has left another 170 reported missing, were one of the reasons he had decided to run for the Senate. "When I was a kid, I went to church camp," he told Newsweek. "My kids growing up went going to summer church camp when they were Country of Texas is a beautiful place, so I mean, as a parent, I just can't imagine these poor girls... swept away." The Democratic hopeful criticized President Donald Trump's administration for cutting what he called "life-saving science," including weather monitoring and forecasting. "On the day that this tragedy happened, Trump stood there in the White House and signed this bill that cut 40 percent from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including zeroing out research," Virts said. "Trump literally wants to destroy our weather at the same time we have Texas kids being killed by floods and understaffed National Weather Service offices," he added later in the interview. "This administration and the Republican Party is actively cutting life-saving science, and it's horrific. This is one of the reasons why I'm running for Senate right now." Texas Republicans Divided Virts' Senate bid takes place against the backdrop of deep divisions within the Republican Party of Texas. In April, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is widely seen as being on the Republican right, announced a primary challenge against incumbent Republican Senator Cornyn, saying, "It's hard to think of the things that he's done good for Texas or the country." Cornyn's team almost immediately hit back with a statement that said: "Ken Paxton is a fraud." Paxton was impeached by the Republican control Texas House in 2023 on bribery charges, although he was subsequently narrowly acquitted by the state Senate. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Referring to Texas Republican infighting Virts said: "Well as Napoleon said, never interrupt your opponent when he's doing something stupid and certainly the Republicans are doing plenty of that these days." Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Olivia Wong/GETTY During the interview Virts branded Cornyn a "eunuch" and "just the most pathetic person in the Senate." He added: "He just posted a picture of himself reading [Trump's] Art of the Deal. He's trying to grovel and beg Trump for his approval... They hate him. They despise John Cornyn because he doesn't stand for anything. He knows what's right, and he doesn't do it." Turning to Paxton, Virts said: "And then on the other hand, you have Ken he wins the Senate race, he'll instantly become the worst human being in the Senate." He added: "He's suing the federal government to get women's health records. I think most Texans don't want Ken Paxton in their bedroom or in the doctor's office with their wife or with their daughter or with their sister or whatever. So it's quite a race." Cornyn campaign senior adviser, Matt Mackowiak, told Newsweek on Friday that the senator nearly always voted with Trump, who has significant support in the state. "President Trump strongly won Texas by 13 percent in 2024, which shows how deep his support is here," he said. "Senator Cornyn has voted with President Trump 99.2 percent of the time as President and he is proud to have helped advance that agenda which Texans clearly align with." Newsweek contacted Attorney General Paxton for comment on Friday via online inquiry form respectively. Immigration The one issue where Virts sharply criticized his own party's record was illegal immigration, an issue he attributed to Trump's 2024 presidential election victory. Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded an estimated 7.2 million suspected illegal migrant encounters with law enforcement during the Biden administration to January 2024. Referring to voters Virts said: "They voted very clearly they don't like it. Democrats for the last several years have told the country, hey, illegal immigration is not a problem. The country told them, yes, it is." Virtz said some Mexican-American communities he knows near the Mexican border had "voted for Donald Trump en masse." "You would think Trump is calling them rapists and murderers. Trump is saying the most racist, heinous stuff about them, and yet they don't want illegal immigration," he said. However Virtz defended legal immigration, commenting: "If you live in Texas, you're an immigrant. It doesn't matter where you're from." NASA Cuts Virts was sharply critical of Trump's most recent spending package, which cut funding for NASA and various scientific research projects, calling it a "disaster." "The last I read, there's 19 probes that NASA has in the solar system operating functional on Mars, at Jupiter, beyond the solar system. They're costing pennies on the dollar to operate. The expense of these things is the rocket to launch it, to build the satellite. Once you spend all that money, you just pay some scientists and engineers to run the satellite," Virts said. "They're going to cancel all of that stuff, which is insane. They're cancelling important undergraduate and graduate research at universities, tens of thousands. I just saw we had 90,000 research positions is getting cut down to 20,000. That destroys the American science institution for medicine, for space, for weather, for all kinds of science. This administration and the Republican Party hate science. They hate knowledge." Turning to Trump's much publicized falling out with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, his former close ally, Virtz described it as, "It's like going back to King George." Could U.S. Lose Second Space Race? The U.S. is currently locked in a second space race with China, which has vowed to land three astronauts on the Moon by 2030. NASA's Artimus program is currently aiming to land American astronauts in 2027, though the date has already been pushed back. Asked whether China could beat America back to the Moon, Verts warned, "Absolutely. Have you seen America's political system recently? They absolutely might." "If China wins that race to the moon, if they send the next astronauts to the moon, the whole world is going to say, wow, America had a great century," he added. "The 20th century was a great American century. The 21st century is the Chinese century."
