Washington: NASA unveils the much awaited images of Pluto taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during the July 14 historic flyby of the dwarf planet.
One of the most stunning images of the icy world is the one captured while speeding away from it just seven hours after the spacecraft's July 14 closest approach.
The New Horizons spacecraft looked back and captured a spectacular view of Pluto’s atmosphere, backlit by the sun. The image reveals layers of haze that are several times higher than what the scientists had predicted.
Click here to view the amazing images of the icy world:
LIVE NOW: @NASANewHorizons #PlutoFlyby briefing on latest discoveries. Have a Q? Use #askNASA: http://t.co/ewVg0hDxx4 pic.twitter.com/9kUZzdXLoz
— NASA (@NASA) July 24, 2015
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its close flyby of Pluto on July 14, when the probe came within 7,800 miles of the icy planet's surface. The spacecraft became the first-ever space mission to explore the icy planet.
Post-flyby, New Horizons has revealed some astonishing images of the planet including its largest moon Charon and a range of ice mountains on it.
The American space agency also organised a press briefing today at 2 p.m. EDT (11:30 p.m. IST) on the latest science updates.
Participants in the briefing include - Jim Green, director of Planetary Science at NASA Headquarters; Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado; Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia; William McKinnon, New Horizons co-investigator at Washington University in St. Louis and Cathy Olkin, New Horizons deputy project scientist at SwRI.
