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PIA20037: Mapping Pluto's 'Broken Heart'
 Target Name:  Pluto
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  New Horizons
 Spacecraft:  New Horizons
 Instrument:  LORRI
 Product Size:  1041 x 717 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Johns Hopkins University/APL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA20037.tif (348.4 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA20037.jpg (37.54 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

In addition to transmitting new high-resolution images and other data on the familiar close-approach hemispheres of Pluto and Charon, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is also returning images -- such as this one -- to improve maps of other regions.

This image was taken by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on the morning of July 13, 2015, from a range of 1.03 million miles (1.7 million kilometers) and has a resolution of 5.1 miles (8.3 kilometers) per pixel. It provides fascinating new details to help the science team map the informally named Krun Macula (the prominent dark spot at the bottom of the image) and the complex terrain east and northeast of Pluto's "heart" (Tombaugh Regio). Pluto's north pole is on the planet's disk at the 12 o'clock position of this image.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Image Credit:
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Image Addition Date:
2015-10-29