A Solar System Photo Gallery
Pluto and Its Satellites


Pluto is shown in this image from the New Horizons probe taken 13 July 2015 from 768,000 km away. Pluto is 2,374 km in diameter and is the largest known trans-Neptunian object, a family of icy bodies near and beyond the orbit of Neptune. This view shows the hemisphere which permanently faces away from its moon Charon. The extreme range of dark and light areas was known from Earth-based observations. Pluto's surface shows very few craters, indicating that some process such as geologic activity has recently been at work. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)
Charon is shown in this image from the New Horizons probe taken 13 July 2015 from 466,000 km away. Charon is 1,212 km in diameter. This view shows the hemisphere of Charon which permanently faces Pluto, with the dark region located near its north pole. Charon's surface is grey compared to Pluto's reddish surface. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)
Styx is shown here in an image obtained by the New Horizons probe on 13 July 2015 from 631,000 km away. Styx is about 6 km across. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)
Nix is shown here in an image obtained by the New Horizons probe on 14 July 2015 from 165,000 km away. Nix is 43 km across and is very elongated. Lower resolution color imagery shows a reddish color to the area around the crater in the center of this image. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)
Kerberos is shown here in an image obtained by the New Horizons probe on 14 July 2015 from 396,100 km away. Kerberos is 12 km by 4.5 km in size and appears to be double-lobed. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)
Hydra is shown here in an image obtained by the New Horizons probe on 14 July 2015 from 231,000 km away. Hydra is about 43 km by 33 km in size. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI)


Copyright © 2002-2014, 2015 by Wm. Robert Johnston. All rights reserved.
Last modified 1 November 2015.
Return to Home. Return to Astronomy and Space.