Pluto: NASA New Horizons Makes 'Movie' of Pluto and Charon (GIFS)

A short time-lapse "movie" was shot of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. The images were taken by Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which is closer to Pluto than any spacecraft has ever been.

The images were taken over one Earth week, from Jan. 25 through 31, or one Plutonian day (6.4 Earth days), according to NASA. The first image was taken 126 million miles from Pluto (3 billion miles from Earth). By the sixth day, New Horizons was 5 million miles closer to Pluto.

You can note Pluto's wobble - Charon is one-eighth the mass of Pluto and as big as the state of Texas.

Frame exposure was one-tenth of a second, which is too short to expose Pluto's smaller moons.

Tags

Nasa, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA's New Horizons, New Horizons spacecraft, New Horizons, Space, Pluto, Charon, Moon, Texas, Moons, Planets, Planet, Gifs, Movie, Time lapse, LORRI, Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager