--- title: Pluto: NASA Photos Reveal New Features on Planet's Surface description: “After nine and a half years in flight, Pluto is well worth the wait" canonical: https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-11T13:13:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:22.684Z article:section: Science og:title: See an Unprecedented Close-Up of Pluto's Surface og:description: “After nine and a half years in flight, Pluto is well worth the wait" og:url: https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt502f84cea2651d79/69885a8135ba6f847dc0e25a/pluto1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: pluto og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See an Unprecedented Close-Up of Pluto's Surface twitter:description: “After nine and a half years in flight, Pluto is well worth the wait" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt502f84cea2651d79/69885a8135ba6f847dc0e25a/pluto1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See an Unprecedented Close-Up of Pluto's Surface ## Video: A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home [Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6ookw4W2.m3u8) (13:31)  _Published 2021-03-11. A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 11, 2015 1:13 PM UTC  NASA  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 11, 2015 1:13 PM UTC NASA unveiled new images of Pluto on Friday, revealing in unprecedented detail the craggy and mysterious features on the distant dwarf planet’s surface. The images come from NASA’s New Horizons probe, which has been closing in on the planet at the outer edge of the solar system, some 2.9 billion miles away from Earth. “We’re close enough now that we’re just starting to see Pluto’s geology,” [said](http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/mh-07-10-15%5Fputo%5Fimage%5Fannotated.jpg) New Horizons program scientist Curt Niebur in a public statement. NASA geologists have taken a keen interest in a roughly 1,000 mile band of dimpled terrain, running from east to west across the planet’s surface, as well as a dark patch, in the shape of a whale’s tail, where the geological features appear especially complex.  The image comes only one day after the probe [snapped](http://time.com/3952363/pluto-charon-new-horizons-nasa/) the first family portrait of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. “After nine and a half years in flight, Pluto is well worth the wait,” said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/"},"headline":"See an Unprecedented Close-Up of Pluto's Surface","datePublished":"2015-07-11T13:13:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:22.684Z","description":"Geologists discover a 1,000 mile long band of \"complex terrain\" and a mysterious shadow the shape of a whale's tail","url":"https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Pluto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt502f84cea2651d79/69885a8135ba6f847dc0e25a/pluto1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt502f84cea2651d79/69885a8135ba6f847dc0e25a/pluto1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"pluto","caption":"pluto","creditText":"NASA","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/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/","name":"See an Unprecedented Close-Up of Pluto's Surface"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","description":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6ookw4W2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-03-11T18:13:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6ookw4W2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/","duration":"PT13M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3954477/nasa-pluto-new-horizons-planet/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```