Posted in Astronomy at 12:00 on 25 May 2025
On 18/5/25 and 19/5 25 Astronomy Picture of the Day featured time-lapsed videos of photos of Pluto and Charon taken by the New Horizons spacecraft.
I haven’t embedded the videos as I think they are copyright but the links take you to them.
Stunning stuff.
To think that the first time I posted on the Plutonian system these worlds were mere dots.
Posted in Astronomy at 17:24 on 10 July 2018
From Astronomy Picture of the Day for 6/7/2018, this is a picture of Pluto’s moon Charon (though which is primary and which satellite when one’s diameter is only twice the other’s is pushing it) taken by the New Horizons probe in its journey through Pluto’s system.
The inset shows the first ever indication of Charon’s existence – a grainy bump on an indistinct photograph from 40 years ago.
Posted in Astronomy at 12:00 on 18 July 2017
Videos made from actual New Horizons footage and digital models of the surfaces of Pluto and Charon are now on You Tube. (I got the steer from the Daily Galaxy.)
Pluto:-
Charon:-
Posted in Astronomy at 20:00 on 23 February 2016
Yet more fruit from NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft’s visit to Pluto.
An astounding video of Pluto’s moon Charon.
From Astronomy Picture of the Day via You Tube:-
Posted in Astronomy at 19:15 on 7 October 2015
From You Tube (via Astronomy Picture of the Day 6/10/15) this shows the (minor) planet and its largest moon orbiting their common centre of gravity before flying past and giving a view of Pluto -and its atmosphere – backlit by the sun.
Posted in Astronomy at 12:00 on 3 October 2015
Astronomy Picture of the Day yesterday had a stunning view of Pluto’s moon Charon as taken by the New Horizons probe. The moon looks oddly lop-sided, probably due to the shadowing on its side pointing away from the sun:-
That’s a big fissure running right across its middle.
Posted in Astronomy at 12:00 on 19 July 2015
It hasn’t taken NASA long to get this New Horizons flyby sequence of Pluto up on You Tube:-
And on Astronomy Picture of the Day on 17/7/15 was this photo of Pluto’s largest moon Charon.
Wonderful stuff.
Every single time spaceprobes have gone to somewhere as yet unexplored they have yielded unexpected results. This time the youth of Pluto’s surface was a surprise.
Posted in Astronomy at 13:00 on 27 July 2011
This was Astronomy Picture of the Day on 22/7/11.
The two photos, taken five days apart less than a month ago, show the four moons of Pluto; Charon, Nix, Hydra and P4 – so young it’s not yet been named – obviously in orbit around the main planetoid.
Four moons. Not bad for an object that was downgraded from planet status only recently.
Earth only has the one. (Cruithne isn’t properly a moon of Earth.)
