Space / 2015-07-10
Bright Spots on Charon
NASA's image library records Bright Spots on Charon.
This image of Charon was taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at 4:23 UT on July 9, 2015, from a range of 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers). It reveals fascinating detail, never before seen, on the surface of Pluto's giant moon, which has a diameter of 750 miles (1208 kilometers). The dark north polar region, whi
A CLOSER LOOK
This image of Charon was taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at 4:23 UT on July 9, 2015, from a range of 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers). It reveals fascinating detail, never before seen, on the surface of Pluto's giant moon, which has a diameter of 750 miles (1208 kilometers). The dark north polar region, which has been seen for several weeks on approach, is still prominent, but numerous bright spots, scattered over Charon's surface, are now also visible. It is possible that many of these spots are bright icy material excavated from Charon's subsurface by impact craters, but whether this is true will become clearer in the next few days. Three consecutive images were combined and sharpened, using a process called deconvolution, to create this view. De
Explore NASA's original image record for credits and available downloads.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
NASA Image and Video LibraryBright Spots on CharonOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.