--- title: Pluto: New Horizons Images Show Surprising Terrain description: The first new images of Pluto downloaded by the New Horizons spacecraft show that the dwarf planet is far more varied and complex than NASA had expected. canonical: https://time.com/4031000/pluto-new-horizons-photos-terrain/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-11T14:14:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:35.820Z article:section: Science og:title: New Images Show Pluto's Unexpected Terrain og:description: The latest photos show the planet is surprisingly diverse og:url: https://time.com/4031000/pluto-new-horizons-photos-terrain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc60e3cc1bdef624/69886331428a9e74b1ccf0f5/pluto-new-horizons-sand-dunes-01.jpg?branch=production&width=985&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 985 og:image:height: 554 og:image:alt: Pluto New Horizons Sand Dunes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Images Show Pluto's Unexpected Terrain twitter:description: The latest photos show the planet is surprisingly diverse twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc60e3cc1bdef624/69886331428a9e74b1ccf0f5/pluto-new-horizons-sand-dunes-01.jpg?branch=production&width=985&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Images Show Pluto's Surprising Terrain > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The Pluto System As Seen By New Horizons Spacecraft [Watch (HLS stream): The Pluto System As Seen By New Horizons Spacecraft](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/v6WDmzdc.m3u8) (0:23)  _Published 2015-09-01. An animation of New Horizons' historic July 2015 fly-by of the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon_  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Sep 11, 2015 2:14 PM UTC  This synthetic perspective view of Pluto, based on the latest high-resolution images to be downlinked from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) above Pluto’s equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, informally named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains informally called Sputnik Planum. This synthetic perspective view of Pluto, based on the latest high-resolution images to be downlinked from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) above Pluto’s equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, informally named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains informally called Sputnik Planum. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Sep 11, 2015 2:14 PM UTC The new images of Pluto downloaded by the New Horizons spacecraft show that the dwarf planet is far more varied and complex than NASA had expected. After receiving and releasing [initial images](http://time.com/3967826/new-horizons-best-pluto-photos/) from the spacecraft’s July 14 [flyby](http://time.com/4018747/new-horizons-flyby/), NASA began a yearlong downlinking process to acquire all of the data and high resolution photography from New Horizons, according to a [press release](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-pluto-images-from-nasa-s-new-horizons-it-s-complicated). These photographs with more detail reveal unexpected terrain diversity, such as ice flows seemingly cascading from mountains into plains, as well as what appear to be dunes. “Pluto is showing us a diversity of landforms and complexity of processes that rival anything we’ve seen in the solar system,” said Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator “If an artist had painted this Pluto before our flyby, I probably would have called it over the top — but that’s what is actually there.” Photos from New Horizons have [surprised](http://time.com/3971673/pluto-silhouette-atmospheric-haze/) scientists since the spacecraft approached and then passed Pluto in July, capturing unprecedented views of the dwarf planet along the way. \[[_NASA_](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-pluto-images-from-nasa-s-new-horizons-it-s-complicated)\] ### See New Horizons' Best Images of Pluto  An enhanced color global view of pluto released on July 24, 2015. NASA/Reuters  In the center left of Pluto’s vast heart-shaped feature – informally named “Tombaugh Regio” - lies a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains and has been informally named Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), after Earth’s first artificial satellite. The image was acquired on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute  A close-up image of a region near Pluto's equator shows a range of mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it passed within 7,800 feet of the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015. NASA/Getty Images  A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto’s heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute  A composite image of Pluto and its largest moon Charon collected separately by New Horizons during approach on July 13 and July 14, 2015\. The relative reflectivity, size, separation, and orientations of Pluto and Charon are approximated in this composite image, and they are shown in approximate true color. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI  Pluto, seen from the New Horizons spacecraft on July 13, 2015 just before the space craft's historic fly-by. NASA/AP  NASA's New Horizons captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Charon just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute  A close up view of Pluto's largest moon, Charon. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI  Pluto on July 14, 2015, as seen by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft while it looked back toward the sun. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI  This synthetic perspective view of Pluto, based on the latest high-resolution images to be downlinked from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) above Pluto’s equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, informally named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains informally called Sputnik Planum. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute  A mosaic of high-resolution images of Pluto, sent back from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft from Sept. 5 to 7, 2015, showing the informally-named icy plain Sputnik Planum, the smooth, bright region across the center. 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