Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 September 10
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                             Pluto in True Color
         Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JHU APL, [5]SwRI, [6]Alex Parker

   Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure
   out. Even given all of the [7]images sent back to Earth when the
   robotic [8]New Horizons spacecraft [9]sped past Pluto in 2015,
   processing these [10]multi-spectral frames to approximate what the
   [11]human eye would see was challenging. The result [12]featured here,
   released three years after the raw data was acquired by [13]New
   Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of [14]Pluto ever
   taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped,
   [15]Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth [16]Sputnik Planitia,
   made of frozen [17]nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons
   found the dwarf-planet to have a [18]surprisingly complex surface
   composed of many regions having perceptibly different hues. In total,
   though, Pluto is [19]mostly brown, with much of its muted color
   originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by
   [20]ultraviolet light from the Sun.

                       Tomorrow's picture: a big heart
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([35]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply.
              [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC
                           & [41]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/PlutoTrueColor_NewHorizons_8000.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.jhuapl.edu/
   5. https://www.swri.org/
   6. http://www.alexharrisonparker.com/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150831.html
   8. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/spacecraft/index.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170731.html
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_(New_Horizons)
  11. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/humanvision/accommodation/index.html
  12. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2ℑ_id=543
  13. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft.php#Systems-and-Components
  14. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/overview/
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombaugh_Regio
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161122.html
  17. https://periodic.lanl.gov/7.shtml
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150914.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060903.html
  20. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190909.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190910
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190911.html
  32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  41. http://www.mtu.edu/