This image, taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015, is the most accurate natural color image of Pluto. This natural-color image results from refined calibration of data gathered by New Horizons’ color Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The processing creates images that would approximate the colors that the human eye would perceive, bringing them closer to “true color” than the images released near the encounter. This single color MVIC scan includes no data from other New Horizons imagers or instruments added. The striking features on Pluto are clearly visible, including the bright expanse of Pluto’s icy, nitrogen-and-methane rich “heart,” Sputnik Planitia.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker
这张由NASA新视野号探测器于2015年7月14日拍摄的图像，是目前最精确的冥王星自然色彩图像。该图像基于新视野号的多光谱可见光成像相机（MVIC）获取的数据，经过精细校准后生成。这样的处理使图像更接近人眼所能感知的“真实色彩”，比探测器近距离飞越时发布的图像更加自然。这张单独的 MVIC 彩色扫描图未叠加来自新视野号其他成像仪或仪器的数据。冥王星上一些引人注目的地貌在图中清晰可见，包括那片明亮的“心脏”区域——富含氮和甲烷冰的史普特尼克平原。
影像来源: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker
