This is what it would be like to land on Pluto: the video was made with more than 100 images taken by the New Horizons probe in 2015 after a journey of almost 10 years!
What would it actually be like to land on Pluto? This video was made thanks to more than 100 images taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during a six-week approach and flyby in the summer of 2015. The video offers a journey to the surface of Pluto, starting with a distant view of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon.
Landing at Sputnik Planitia
This journey leads to a “landing” on the called area Sputnik Planitia (it is worth pointing out that the probe did not land on Pluto but continued its journey towards it interstellar space. The simulation was created thanks to the data collected). The color to the frames was added later but faithfully reflects the actual color (based on real observations). After a 9.5-year journey of about 5 billion kilometers, New Horizons flew through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015, coming within 12,500 km of the dwarf planet. With powerful telescopic cameras capable of spotting features smaller than a football field, New Horizons has sent back hundreds of images of Pluto and its moons that show how dynamic and fascinating their surfaces are. Here is the video of what a landing would look like:
Cover image credit NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
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