--- description: In April, NASA's New Horizons captured the first color image of the dwarf planet from 71 million miles — the closest ever recorded. title: See the Closest Color Image of Pluto Ever Taken image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cf8a1424535fa56/6987eb15a988cad9fe6b02e2/pluto-first-color-image-new-horizons.png?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See the Closest Color Photo of Pluto Ever Taken by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2015 5:23 AM CUT  This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on April 9. This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on April 9.NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2015 5:23 AM CUT Pluto, which sits approximately 4.67 billion miles from Earth, just got a tiny bit closer. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft this month [captured](http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150414 "undefined") the first color image of the dwarf planet from just 71 million miles away — the closest image ever recorded. It is accompanied by a image of Pluto’s largest moon Charon, which is similar in size to Texas. NASA expects to complete early reconnaissance of Pluto and its system on July 14, when it will capture color images detailing “surface features as small as a few miles across.” The trove of data collected will no doubt enhance everyone’s insight into the minor planet. “In an unprecedented flyby this July, our knowledge of what the Pluto systems is really like will expand exponentially and I have no doubt there will be exciting discoveries,” says NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld. ### See the Astronomical League's Most Beautiful Photos from 2014  The Rosette nebula, also known as NGC 2237 or Caldwell 49, taken from Waukesha, Wisc., on Jan. 6, 2014. Dennis Roscoe, Ph.D.  The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, also known as IC 1396, on April 14, 2014. Eric Coles  The Pleiades, also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters, imaged from Fayetteville, Ark., on Jan. 25, 2014. Joel Tonyan  Andromeda Galaxy (M31), imaged from Fayetteville, Ark., on Jan. 19, 2014, Joel Tonyan  A time lapse showing star trails above Big Lagoon State Park in Pensacola, Fla., on March 30, 2014. Kenny Alexander  Eta Aquarid meteors above Bryce Canyon in Utah, in May 2014. David Lane  The Orion Nebula, taken from Waukesha, Wisc., on Feb. 7, 2014. Dennis Roscoe, Ph.D.  A star-forming nebula in Gemini, in January 2014. Brian Peterson  Propeller Nebula in Cygnus, also known as DWB111, on May 1, 2014. Eric Coles  The Milky Way, taken from Pensacola Beach in Pensacola, Fla., on March 2, 2014. Kenny Alexander  An aircraft turns over the night sky with the Milky Way in the background above Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2014. Matt Jylha  Pelican Nebula, taken from Waukesha, Wisc., on Jan. 9, 2014. Dennis Roscoe, Ph.D.  The Horsehead nebula, also known as Barnard 33 in emission nebula IC 434, taken at Seneca and Oswego in Illinois, Feb.-March 2014 Martin Hrdlicka  A panorama of the Milky Way taken from Fall Creek Falls State Park during the Eta Aquarid meteor shower on May 4, 2014. Matt Harbison  The Rosette nebula, also known as NGC 2237 or Caldwell 49, taken from Seneca, Ill., in March 2014. Martin Hrdlicka  The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 101, M101 or NGC 5457, taken at the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys on March 1, 2014. Richard S. Wright Jr.  The Milky Way with Venus rising at Pensacola Beach in Pensacola, Fla., on March 2, 2014. Kenny Alexander  Waxing Moon over Winter Garden, Fla., on Feb. 10, 2014 Matt Jylha ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3822294/pluto-first-color-image-nasa-new-horizons-charon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3822294/pluto-first-color-image-nasa-new-horizons-charon/"},"headline":"See the Closest Color Photo of Pluto Ever Taken","datePublished":"2015-04-15T05:23:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:39.798Z","description":"It is also the first color image snapped from an approaching spacecraft","url":"https://time.com/3822294/pluto-first-color-image-nasa-new-horizons-charon/","keywords":["Space","astronomy","NASA","Pluto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cf8a1424535fa56/6987eb15a988cad9fe6b02e2/pluto-first-color-image-new-horizons.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cf8a1424535fa56/6987eb15a988cad9fe6b02e2/pluto-first-color-image-new-horizons.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on April 9.","caption":"This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on April 9.","creditText":"NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3822294/pluto-first-color-image-nasa-new-horizons-charon/","name":"See the Closest Color Photo of Pluto Ever Taken"}}]}] ```