Posted on by Fraser Cain

Pictures of Pluto

Pluto is so small and distant that we just don’t have any good pictures of it… yet. We get so many people asking that I’ve compiled together a gallery of the best pictures of Pluto. Some of these are actual Pluto pictures, captured by telescopes, while others are pics of Pluto done by an artist. Once NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft finally arrives in 2015, we’ll get some actual, close up images of Pluto and its moon Charon.

Even though Pluto’s not a planet any more, we can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like.

Each image links to a version you can use as your desktop background. To do this, click on an image to see the larger version, and then right-click and choose “Set as desktop”. Now you’ll have the picture as your background.

You can also look through these books from Amazon.com if you want more information about Pluto.

This is one of the best hubble pics of Pluto ever taken. It was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994. The image clearly shows both Pluto and Charon as separate disks with surface features.

This is a picture of Pluto, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The photograph of Pluto was taken when the dwarf planet was 4.8 billion km (3 billion miles) from Earth. Hubble was able to see lighter and darker patches across the surface of Pluto. What’s happening here? We’ll have to wait for New Horizons to know better.

This is an artist’s illustration picture of Pluto and Charon seen from one of its smaller moons. Pluto is the large disk right in the middle of the photograph, and Charon is the smaller one over to the right. Pluto’s other tiny moon is the bright object to the left, just above the horizon. (Image credit: NASA).

Here’s a new portrait of the Solar System, with tiny Pluto and the other dwarf planets. You can see how they compare in size to the rest of the planets.

This is a picture of Pluto being visited by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. The actual encounter is going to happen in 2015, when the first close-up images of the surface of Pluto will be sent back to Earth.

I hope you enjoyed these Pluto pics.

13 Replies to “Pictures of Pluto”

  1. IT DID HELP ME VERY MUCH THANK YOU.
    NOW I UNDERSTAND BECAUSE AT FIRST I WAS CONFUSED. THANKS DUDE.PEACE OUT!

  9. Thank you so much for this astronomical information.
    This is one of those times when it is so helpful to be corrected. Actually, I had learned of this months ago, but when strolling through the latest in astrology – which doesn’t mean *&^%$#@)%&* without proper astronomical context, I have been wondering about the implications of the demotion of Pluto…I had no idea that there may be or is actually a massive ‘ring’ out there…that’s exciting in a knowledge-of-truth sort of way. …I will like it when more of the pictures of Uranus and Neptune show the rings there to.

    That’s kind of ‘cute’ astronomically, not only the 11 year English girl naming Pluto – astrologers have gone ‘all out’ with the imagery she delivered in that magic moment….the whole ring around the solar system thing…That’s ‘cute’…My stepmother used to call things cute even when were adult…sometimes I just thought she was weird, but I think it applies in this case.

  10. Ho its lovely….. i dont know Y… but my favourite planet is Pluto….. i was shocking to tht pluto is no more a planet and its a dwarf planet… but i will wait till 2015 to know and confirm whether its a planet or not….

    Thanks for all these info and wonderful pics

    Mary – Bangalore

  12. meowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwrufffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuufffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

  13. i like the website but i would like it better if it gave my more up close pictures of pluto because i have to have these pictures for presentations

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