Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2019 October 20
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                               Pluto at Night
       Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, [5]Southwest
                             Research Institute

   Explanation: The night side of Pluto spans [6]this shadowy scene, a
   stunning spacebased view with the Sun 4.9 billion kilometers (almost
   4.5 light-hours) behind the dim and distant world. It was captured by
   far flung [7]New Horizons in July of 2015. The spacecraft was at a
   range of some 21,000 kilometers from Pluto, about 19 minutes after its
   closest approach. A denizen [8]of the Kuiper Belt in dramatic
   silhouette, the image also reveals Pluto's tenuous, surprisingly
   [9]complex layers of hazy atmosphere. The crescent [10]twilight
   landscape near the top of the frame includes southern areas of nitrogen
   ice plains now formally known as [11]Sputnik Planitia and [12]rugged
   mountains of water-ice in the Norgay Montes.

                    Tomorrow's picture: Mercury at Night
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1910/PIA20727PlutoNight.jpg
   3. http://www.nasa.gov/
   4. http://www.jhuapl.edu/
   5. http://www.swri.edu/
   6. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20727
   7. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-best-close-up-of-plutos-surface
   8. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-collects-first-science-on-a-post-pluto-object
   9. https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.05356
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150918.html
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_Planitia
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150718.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191019.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191020
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191021.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/