Space exploration New Horizons is getting closer to Pluto. Because there is a camera on board is there are regularly new images to the earth. This time NASA has a video of the dwarf planet with its moon Charon.
NASA has a number of animations in gif format online. Pluto and Charon are in color and what is striking is that they vary. What is the reason for the colour differences, there argue the scientists are still about. Unfortunately, the images are in a very low resolution shot, making the contours of the celestial bodies are not visible. It is on one of the images shows how the orbit of Pluto is influenced by the gravity of Charon. That is because Pluto is a dwarf planet and is therefore of relatively little mass. The earth’s moon has gravity, for example, has a much smaller influence, and among other things causes the tides.
The images are composed using the Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera on board of New Horizons. This captures colors in red, blue and near-infrared. According to NASA, the colours in the images ‘almost real’.
Because New Horizons only about 24 days, the closest Pluto gets near, there will be more pictures and videos. The dwarf planet probably also a lot better to see. The space explorer was already more than 9 years ago launched and has so for almost a decade to Pluto, on the edge of our solar system, to reach.
