Scientists working with the New Horizons spacecraft, which is scheduled to reach Pluto in July, released the first ever long-distance movies of Pluto and its giant moon Charon today.
Check them out at: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150429
The spacecraft was between 69 and 64 million miles away from Pluto when the images were taken, still roughly 3/4 of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. So these movies are very crude compared to what we will have soon.
Still, to have any real detail at all in our views of Pluto and Charon is wonderful and just whets our appetites for what's coming, as we get closer and closer to the famous dwarf planet that got so much public pity in the last few years. Discovered in 1930, it is (as the news release with the film says,) a cool mystery at the outskirts of the known solar system. But soon, thanks to NASA's long flight out there, we will know so much more about it. Stay tuned.
(If you click on the link, you will find two different perspective movies and some background information.)
