Zigzagging Across Pluto

This high-resolution swath (see Full Swath above) of Pluto sweeps over the cratered plains at the west of the New Horizons' encounter hemisphere and across numerous prominent faults, skimming the eastern margin of the dark, forbidding region informally known as Cthulhu Regio, and finally passing over the mysterious, possibly cryovolcanic edifice Wright Mons, before reaching the terminator or day-night line. Among the many notable details shown are the overlapping and infilling relationships between units of the relatively smooth, bright volatile ices from Sputnik Planum (at the edge of the mosaic) and the dark edge or "shore" of Cthulhu. The pictures in this mosaic were taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) in "ride-along" mode with the LEISA spectrometer, which accounts for the 'zigzag' or step pattern. Taken shortly before New Horizons' July 14 closest approach to Pluto, details as small as 500 yards (500 meters) can be seen.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.