Click on any picture to get a larger image of that picture.
Pluto has a dark equatorial belt and bright polar caps as seen on this photo by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
Pluto is not a gas giant, it is the smallest planet in the solar system. It probably consists of a mixture of ice and rocks.
Pluto's diameter is 2320 kilometers, Charon's diameter is 1270 kilometers.
Pluto always appears as a dot of light in even the largest telescopes on earth. These pictures by the Hubble Space Telescope show the surface detail on the two opposite hemispheres of Pluto. Pluto rotates on its axis once in 6.4 days. Notice the very high contrast between the light and dark colored regions. This photo is by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope as well.
Pictures of the planet Pluto and Charon
Hubble Space Telescope pictures of the disks of Pluto and Charon
This photo was taken when Pluto was at a distance of 4.4 billion kilometers from earth.
The diameter of Pluto is 2320 kilometers and Charon's diameter is 1270 kilometers. Pluto and Charon always keep the same hemisphere facing each other.
The bright spot on Pluto (clearly seen when you click the photo below for a larger image) is a highly reflective area on the surface of Pluto. On this photo Pluto and Charon are clearly not the same color. Pluto has frozen methane on its surface, Charon has frozen water ice on its surface. Charon is nearly half the size of Pluto.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 (by Clyde Tombaugh), but Charon wasn't detected until 1978. (There were no Hubble Space Telescopes back in 1930 !)
Image Credit: Photos taken by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
Pluto in true color.
Pluto is mostly brown. This picture shows the true colors of Pluto as well as the highest surface resolution so far recovered.
This picture/map was created by tracking brightness changes from Earth of Pluto during times when it was being partially eclipsed by its moon Charon.
Pluto's brown color is caused by frozen methane deposits.
Photo Credit: Eliot Young (SwRI) et al., NASA
As seen from the Earth, pluto moved in front of two different stars on July 20 and August 21.
This provided observers with an opportunity to learn more about the tenuous atmosphere of Pluto.
You can learn more about
Pluto's occultation on this webpage developed by the European Southern Observatory.
Pluto's occultation photo credit:
NACO Team,
8.2-meter VLT (Yepun),
ESO
Pluto in 3D - image made using the Hubble Space Telescope map at the top of this webpage.
