This is the first colour photo of the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon taken by the New Horizons spacecraft. It was taken on April 9, 2015, from a distance of about 71 million 115 million kilometers (71 million miles).
That’s still a long ways away, but the resolution will continue to improve of course as New Horizons gets closer and makes its closest approach on July 14, 2015, taking the first-ever closeup images of Pluto and its five known moons. From the update:
“Pluto, the largest known body in the Kuiper Belt, offers a nitrogen atmosphere, complex seasons, distinct surface markings, an ice-rock interior that may harbor an ocean, and at least five moons. Among these moons, the largest – Charon – may itself sport an atmosphere or an interior ocean, and possibly even evidence of recent surface activity.”
Very soon now, we will finally see what this world actually looks like!