Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2019 September 10 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Pluto in True Color Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JHU APL, [5]SwRI, [6]Alex Parker Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure out. Even given all of the [7]images sent back to Earth when the robotic [8]New Horizons spacecraft [9]sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these [10]multi-spectral frames to approximate what the [11]human eye would see was challenging. The result [12]featured here, released three years after the raw data was acquired by [13]New Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of [14]Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped, [15]Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth [16]Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen [17]nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf-planet to have a [18]surprisingly complex surface composed of many regions having perceptibly different hues. In total, though, Pluto is [19]mostly brown, with much of its muted color originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by [20]ultraviolet light from the Sun. Tomorrow's picture: a big heart __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/PlutoTrueColor_NewHorizons_8000.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jhuapl.edu/ 5. https://www.swri.org/ 6. http://www.alexharrisonparker.com/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150831.html 8. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/spacecraft/index.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170731.html 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_(New_Horizons) 11. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/humanvision/accommodation/index.html 12. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2ℑ_id=543 13. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft.php#Systems-and-Components 14. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/overview/ 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombaugh_Regio 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161122.html 17. https://periodic.lanl.gov/7.shtml 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150914.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060903.html 20. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190909.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190910 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190911.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. http://www.mtu.edu/