New Horizons' 'fly by' of Pluto may have taken place back in July, but scientists are still receiving some incredible data from the mission.
A new panorama of the dwarf planet has been released by NASA after they received it a few days ago, and it gives us a detailed, majestic look at Pluto's icy mountains and plains.
The photo was taken 18,000 kilometers away from Pluto and shows a 1,250 kilometers wide landscape.
The clarity of the image is thanks to the fact it was backlit by the Sun, while NASA explains the lighting and high resolution also helps show "hazes throughout Pluto’s tenuous but extended nitrogen atmosphere".
New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern - of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado - said, “this image really makes you feel you are there, at Pluto, surveying the landscape for yourself. But this image is also a scientific bonanza, revealing new details about Pluto’s atmosphere, mountains, glaciers and plains."
You can see the image below, and a close-up of one area of the vast landscape captured in the panorama:
