NASA creates Pluto aerial tour with New Horizons images

Over the last several weeks the New Horizons spacecraft that NASA sent to study Pluto has been sending back the best images of the former planet that we have ever had the chance to look at. The images are detailed enough that we can see many of the surface features of the celestial body for the first time. New Horizons has also sent back photos of Pluto's largest moon Charon.

Some of the latest photos from New Horizons have been received by NASA this month and those images were turned into a very cool aerial tour of Pluto. Many of the photos have a resolution of 400 meters per pixel. The video gives viewers the idea what it might be like to explore the surface Pluto as New Horizons did.

The mosaic used to make this animation was put together by the team of scientists working on New Horizons. While many of the images used in the animation are at a resolution of 400 m/px, some are at a lower resolution of 800 m/px and others are at a resolution of 2.1 km/px.

The tour starts over a feature called Norgay Monets at a height of 200 kilometers and then travels North over Sputnik Planum and Cthulhu Regio. The scientists expect to receive higher resolution images from New Horizons in the coming weeks with some up to seven times better pixel scale.

SOURCE: NASA