Pluto Flyover

Sometimes, on weeks with lots of bad news, it’s nice to stop and think about how we sent a space probe to Pluto.

This animation, made with the LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) images, begins with a low-altitude look at the informally named Norgay Montes, flies northward over the boundary between informally named Sputnik Planum and Cthulhu Regio, turns, and drifts slowly east.

Wait, Cthulhu Regio? From Wikipedia:

NASA initially referred to it as the Whale in reference to its overall shape. By 14 July 2015, the provisional name “Cthulhu” was being used by the New Horizons team. It was named after the fictional deity from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others.

See also: another longer flyover animation of Pluto, and some new photos just released yesterday.

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