No human has been far enough from Earth to take a picture of it in its entirety since the last Apollo mission in 1972. Fortunately, NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft was able to snap this photo from a distance of 1 million miles away on July 6, 2015.
By combining four images from New Horizons’ LORRI imager and color data from other instruments, scientists were able to create this stunning real-color image of Pluto after New Horizon’s mid-July 2015 flyby of the planet. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
This is by far the most detailed image of Pluto ever produced. To see what earlier imaging efforts looked like, take a look at NASA’s awesome animation, Views of Pluto Through the Years.
One of the most iconic photos of all time, “Earthrise,” was taken on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968 by the crew of Apolla 8 while in orbit around the Moon.
