--- title: Pluto and Charon Seen In New Photo From NASA New Horizons Craft description: Images are from NASA's unmanned mission to the icy dwarf planet canonical: https://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-10T01:12:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:07:47.357Z article:section: Science og:title: Pluto Poses With Largest Moon in Cosmic Family Photo og:description: From NASA's New Horizons mission, scheduled to wrap next week og:url: https://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd837ec6b39850ad1/69885a5e35ba6f9ab9c0e213/pluto_charon_color_final.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Pluto and Charon when it snapped this portrait late on July 8, 2015. Color information obtained earlier in the mission from the Ralph instrument has been added. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pluto Poses With Largest Moon in Cosmic Family Photo twitter:description: From NASA's New Horizons mission, scheduled to wrap next week twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd837ec6b39850ad1/69885a5e35ba6f9ab9c0e213/pluto_charon_color_final.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pluto Poses With Largest Moon in Cosmic Family Photo by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 10, 2015 1:12 AM UTC  New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Pluto and Charon when it snapped this portrait late on July 8, 2015\. Color information obtained earlier in the mission from the Ralph instrument has been added. New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Pluto and Charon when it snapped this portrait late on July 8, 2015\. Color information obtained earlier in the mission from the Ralph instrument has been added.NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 10, 2015 1:12 AM UTC As NASA’s [New Horizons](https://www.nasa.gov/mission%5Fpages/newhorizons/main/index.html) spacecraft inches closer to the icy planet Pluto, unprecedented images of its surface and moon have emerged. On Thursday, NASA revealed images of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, shedding light on new details about the surface of the dwarf planet and its moon. The two celestial bodies have little in common despite existing in harmony for billions of years. The dwarf planet is home to “exotic ices” ranging from nitrogen to carbon monoxide, NASA says, while its moon carries frozen water and ammonia. New Horizons will soon wrap its nearly decade long mission to get close to Pluto. It is scheduled to pass the planet on [July 14](https://www.nasa.gov/mission%5Fpages/newhorizons/main/index.html)[.](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-and-charon-new-horizons-dynamic-duo) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/"},"headline":"Pluto Poses With Largest Moon in Cosmic Family Photo","datePublished":"2015-07-10T01:12:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:07:47.357Z","description":"NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took the image","url":"https://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/","keywords":["Space","Pluto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd837ec6b39850ad1/69885a5e35ba6f9ab9c0e213/pluto_charon_color_final.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd837ec6b39850ad1/69885a5e35ba6f9ab9c0e213/pluto_charon_color_final.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Pluto and Charon when it snapped this portrait late on July 8, 2015. 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