                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                               2024 January 28
    The minor planet Pluto is shown up close, as seen by the passing New
   Horizons spacecraft, and in true color. Pluto is a complex mix of beige
     regions and some dark brown regions. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                             Pluto in True Color
         Image Credit: NASA, JHU APL, SwRI; Processing: Alex Parker

   Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure
   out. Even given all of the images sent back to Earth when the robotic
   New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these
   multi-spectral frames to approximate what the human eye would see was
   challenging. The result featured here, released three years after the
   raw data was acquired by New Horizons, is the highest resolution true
   color image of Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the
   light-colored, heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly
   smooth Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen nitrogen, filling its western
   lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf planet to have a surprisingly
   complex surface composed of many regions having perceptibly different
   hues. In total, though, Pluto is mostly brown, with much of its muted
   color originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by
   ultraviolet light from the Sun.

                    Tomorrow's picture: stars versus dust
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn; Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

