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Nasa just released the clearest photo you've ever seen of Pluto

It has never been seen in such detail.

RIGHT NOW A a piano-sized spacecraft is barreling through space at more than 48,000 kph with an important destination: the dwarf planet Pluto and its system of five moons.

On Wednesday, the NASA spacecraft, called New Horizons, was 6.9 million kilometres away from Pluto when it used its LORRI (LOng-Range Reconnaissance Imager) camera to snap the first clear photo of Pluto ever taken.

Here it is, with Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, on the left:

pluto_charon_color_final NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI

This latest image shows that we have come a long way since the days when the Hubble Space Telescope was taking images of Pluto that looked like this:

hs-1994-17-a-full_jpg Dr. R. Albrecht, ESA / ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility; NASA Dr. R. Albrecht, ESA / ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility; NASA / ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility; NASA

Even with a powerful telescope like Hubble, Pluto is simply too small and far away to get a good, clear look at it from Earth.

That’s why, in 2006, NASA launched New Horizons on its nine-year, 4.6-billion-kilometre journey to Pluto.

Now the spacecraft has less than a few million miles left before its closest approach on Tuesday.

In this latest image, shown below in black and white, the spacecraft reveals two very different worlds: Pluto has distinctive contrasting dark and light colors on its surface, while Charon has a much smoother surface.

nh-pluto_charon_150709 NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI

“These two objects have been together for billions of years, in the same orbit, but they are totally different,” Alan Stern, the principal investigator of New Horizons, said in a NASA statement.

New Horizons’ seven instruments will study Pluto in more detail than any of the five moons, including Charon. B

ut simply from detailed images like this — and many more to come as New Horizons closes in on Pluto — scientists will still get a better understanding of Charon than they ever have before.

“If we see impact craters on Charon, it will help us see what’s hidden beneath the surface,” New Horizons team member Jeff Moore said in the NASA statement.

A closer look at Pluto, left, and Charon together shows just how different these two worlds are on their surface:

pluto3-1 NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI

New Horizons is quickly closing in on Pluto, at speeds able to cover 1.6 million kilometres in just over 30 hours.

NASA has carefully calibrated the spacecraft to fly within 12,200 kilometres of Pluto on Tuesday. That’s one-six-hundredth the distance it was Wednesday, when it snapped that clear photo at the top of this post.

From 12,200 kilometres, the sophisticated instruments on the spacecraft will be able to resolve features on the surface of Pluto that are the size of Manhattan Island. Here’s an example of just how detailed that is:

nh-stern_8 NASA / New Horizons NASA / New Horizons / New Horizons

So stay tuned: Photos of Pluto unlike any you’ve ever seen are coming soon.

- Jessica Orwig

The final approach to Pluto: We live in very exciting times for space exploration >

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    Mute C Mc Gyver
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    Mar 28th 2016, 12:01 AM

    No problem with Monday its Tuesday I’m fearing!

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    Mar 28th 2016, 6:42 AM

    Yeah, its true, we really should just stop and think about where we’re at.We take for granted our mental state of health . Unfortunately, we are always planning ahead for and not chillin out and enjoying the moment. Financial stress does this to us all.Its not easy to be in the here and now but we must try, as we owe it to ourselves.So cmon, its a new day, altogether now, Breathe in, Breathe out, breathe in, Breathe out, Ah im exhausted already, im goin back asleep!

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    Mute Winston Smith
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    Mar 28th 2016, 11:07 AM

    I hope I win the lotto, I hope I win the lotto, I hope I win the lotto….

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    Mute .
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    Mar 28th 2016, 12:12 AM

    Perhaps at Easter there is a Christian answer to stress rather than having to go to Eastern philosophies

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    Mute Jane
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    Mar 28th 2016, 1:34 AM

    What would that be then?

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    Mute Pat Maher
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    Mar 28th 2016, 7:34 AM

    What’s wrong with trying things from other cultures and faiths? It broadens the mind, no-one has all the answers. Seems quite un-Christian to close your mind to the thoughts and philosophies of others simply because the aren’t attached directly to your faith, Jesus wouldn’t have gained too many followers if he’d taken that approach, he loved everyone.

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    Mute na buachailí
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    Mar 28th 2016, 9:06 AM

    Some might say the pressures placed on younger people to live that perfect Christian life is part of the problem causing pressures and stress on people?

    I am Christian and believe in living s good life and loving others etc etc but an wholly against the ‘church’ preaching, aged men who never have had a relationship, instructing us on how to manage ours etc, crazy stuff!

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    Mute .
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    Mar 28th 2016, 10:50 AM

    Well Budda preached the truth is within you path to enlightment Jesus preached that he was the truth and could forgive sin

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    Mute Winston Smith
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    Mar 28th 2016, 11:06 AM

    Keep praying.

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    Mute .
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    Mar 28th 2016, 11:11 AM

    Well believing in teaching of Buddha and Jesus at same time is contradictory Bit like supporting FG and People before Profit at the same time They believe in different things

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    Mute TomTraubert
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    Mar 28th 2016, 6:50 PM

    Another top tip, not mentioned in the article, is to try and avoid thejournal.ie entirely.

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    Mute Keith Byrne
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    Mar 28th 2016, 7:04 AM

    By sheer coincidence here’s my blog on my experience of mindfulness featuring a reference to 1916 for the week that’s in it:

    https://twitter.com/keifib/status/713403824560414720

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    Mute Gash
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    Mar 28th 2016, 1:34 AM

    I’m pissed

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    Mute Timber Planks
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    Mar 28th 2016, 5:33 PM

    Me too.

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    Mute Pat Maher
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    Mar 29th 2016, 4:34 PM

    And you don’t think that Fine Gael might have some policies you agree with and so might People before Profit. They are not mutually exclusive. You as an individual can decide what you agree with, so can everyone else.

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