ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → News

NASA posts pic of rainbow-colored Pluto just in time for Pride Month

Pluto gets splashed in a dash of colors to highlight its varied geography.

Tibi PuiubyTibi Puiu
July 21, 2022
in News, Space
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit
Credit: NASA.

On Tuesday, NASA shared a dazzling picture of the dwarf planet Pluto, showing it in a riot of colors. The rainbow-colored world might look like it was splashed by a painter’s brush, but this is just a trick that scientists performed, showing a translated color image of Pluto taken by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 in order to better highlight the different regions on the planet.

The left side of the planet is mostly blue-green with purple swirls, while the right side ranges from a vibrant yellow-green at the top to a reddish-orange toward the bottom. This goes to show just how complex and varied Pluto actually is.

“Pluto has a complex, varied surface with jumbled mountains reminiscent of Europa, networks of carved-out valleys, old, heavily cratered terrain sitting right next to new, smooth icy plains, and even what might be wind-blown dunes,” NASA wrote on its Instagram page.

This particular image was taken during New Horizon’s six-month-long flyby of Pluto and its five tiny moons in the summer of 2015. The spacecraft first began its odyssey on January 19, 2006, on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A power outage and high winds had delayed two previous launch attempts, but New Horizons made it safely into space on the third try.

New Horizon’s flyby of Pluto revealed a strikingly rich planet, which we couldn’t really have imagined judging from the highly pixelated, low-resolution images astronomers took from a distance. The up-close observations exposed Pluto’s now-famous heart-shaped bright surface, known as Tombaugh Regio. It’s thought that this nitrogen-rich region may create winds that shape surface features, like a “beating heart”.

After visiting Pluto, New Horizons ventured into the distant Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the Sun, extending just beyond the orbit of Neptune.

New Horizons is still exploring the solar system, reaching a distance of 53 astronomical units from the sun (One AU is the average Earth-sun distance — about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers).  The spacecraft’s extreme distance from Earth makes it only the fifth to venture so far from home, the others being Pioneer 10(opens in new tab) and Pioneer 11(opens in new tab), and Voyager 1(opens in new tab) and Voyager 2(opens in new tab). According to NASA, New Horizons should enter interstellar space in the 2040s.

RelatedPosts

Expanding Brain Samples to Better See Them
Stephen Hawking’s PhD gets published online, crashes Cambridge’s website with millions of views in mere days
The world is shifting to renewables faster than expected, Canadian think tank finds
Scientists uncover secret color of 200-million-year-old butterfly wings

ShareTweetShare
Tibi Puiu

Tibi Puiu

Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines. He has a B.Sc in mechanical engineering and an M.Sc in renewable energy systems.

Related Posts

Culture & Society

What’s Seasonal Body Image Dissatisfaction and How Not to Fall into Its Trap

byAlexandra Gerea
2 days ago
Mind & Brain

Why a 20-Minute Nap Could Be Key to Unlocking ‘Eureka!’ Moments Like Salvador Dalí

byTibi Puiu
2 days ago
Anthropology

The world’s oldest boomerang is even older than we thought, but it’s not Australian

byMihai Andrei
2 days ago
Future

Swarms of tiny robots could go up your nose, melt the mucus and clean your sinuses

byMihai Andrei
2 days ago

Recent news

What’s Seasonal Body Image Dissatisfaction and How Not to Fall into Its Trap

June 28, 2025

Why a 20-Minute Nap Could Be Key to Unlocking ‘Eureka!’ Moments Like Salvador Dalí

June 28, 2025

The world’s oldest boomerang is even older than we thought, but it’s not Australian

June 27, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.