Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from our New Horizons spacecraft taken late on Tuesday from a distance of 289,000 miles (466,000 kilometers). A swath of cliffs and troughs stretches about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from left to right, suggesting widespread fracturing of Charon's crust, likely a result of internal processes. At upper right, along the moon's curving edge, is a canyon estimated to be 4 to 6 miles (7 to 9 kilometers) deep. Mission scientists are surprised by the apparent lack of craters on Charon. South of the moon's equator, at the bottom of this image, terrain is lit by the slanting rays of the sun, creating shadows that make it easier to distinguish topography. In Charon's north polar region, a dark marking nicknamed 'Mordor' is prominent in the image. Higher resolution images still to come are expected to shed more light on this enigmatic region. New Horizons traveled more than three billion miles over nine-and-a-half years to reach the Pluto system. Image Credit: NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 32,698

Mountains on Pluto! This movie zooms into the base of the heart-shaped feature on Pluto to highlight a new image captured by our New Horizons spacecraft. The new image, seen in black and white against a previously released color image of Pluto, shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body. Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 5,606

You ain't seen nothing yet! Today's image was just the latest in a series of the New Horizons Pluto "picture show." Tomorrow, more images of surface close-ups will make the more than four-hour journey to Earth at the speed of light to give ten times the resolution of what we saw today, with details as small as New York's Central Park. Stay tuned! #PlutoFlyby #NASA #NASANewHorizons @NASASolarSystem #space #pluto #planet Instagram ดารา @nasa 64,887

SNEAK PEAK of gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach - 7:49 a.m. EDT today. This image will be released and discussed at 8 a.m. EDT today. Watch our briefing live on NASA Television at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv The high res pic will be posted on the web at: http://www.nasa.gov. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons #solarsystem #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 7,601

Three billion miles from Earth and just two and a half million miles from Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has taken its best image of four dark spots that continue to captivate. At 7:49 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 14 New Horizons will zip past Pluto at 30,800 miles per hour (49,600 kilometers per hour), with a suite of seven science instruments busily gathering data. The mission will complete the initial reconnaissance of the solar system with the first-ever look at the icy dwarf planet. Credit: NASA #nasa #space #pluto #plutoflyby #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 32,172

Stunning Spiral Galaxy! This little-known galaxy is a classic example of a spiral galaxy. The galaxy is much like our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The disk-shaped galaxy is seen face on, revealing the winding structure of the spiral arms. Dark patches in these spiral arms are in fact dust and gas — the raw materials for new stars. The many young stars that form in these regions make the spiral arms appear bright and bluish. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA #nasa #hubble #hubble25 #nasabeyond #space #galaxy #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 37,097

They're a fascinating pair: Two icy worlds, spinning around their common center of gravity like a pair of figure skaters clasping hands. Scientists believe they were shaped by a cosmic collision billions of years ago, and yet, in many ways, they seem more like strangers than siblings. A high-contrast array of bright and dark features covers Pluto's surface, while on Charon, only a dark polar region interrupts a generally more uniform light gray terrain. The reddish materials that color Pluto are absent on Charon. Pluto has a significant atmosphere; Charon does not. On Pluto, exotic ices like frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide have been found, while Charon's surface is made of frozen water and ammonia compounds. The interior of Pluto is mostly rock, while Charon contains equal measures of rock and water ice. On Tuesday, our New Horizons spacecraft will make its closest approach to Pluto. Standby for more never-before seen images of Pluto! Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #newhorizons #pluto #plutoflyby #charon #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 38,386

Flaring, active regions of our sun are highlighted in this new image combining observations from several telescopes. High-energy X-rays from our Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) are shown in blue; low-energy X-rays from Japan's Hinode spacecraft are green; and extreme ultraviolet light from our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is yellow and red. All three telescopes captured their solar images around the same time on April 29, 2015. The NuSTAR image is a mosaic made from combining smaller images. The active regions across the sun's surface contain material heated to several millions of degrees. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/JAXA #nasa #sun #nustar #nasabeyond #hinode #sdo #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 1,598

Only 8 days until our New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto! And new high-resolution views of Pluto were just released! One image includes the four mysterious dark spots on Pluto that have captured the imagination of the world. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) obtained the images prior to the July 4 anomaly that sent New Horizons into safe mode. This color version of the July 3 LORRI image was created by adding color data from the Ralph instrument gathered earlier in the mission. All images: http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons #space #nasabeyond #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 28,474

Happy 4th of July! While fireworks only last a short time here on Earth, a bundle of cosmic sparklers in a nearby cluster of stars will be going off for a very long time. This is a star cluster populated with many young stars that are less than 2 million years old, a blink of an eye in astronomical terms for stars like the Sun expected to burn for billions of years. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/S.Wolk et al; Optical: DSS & NOAO/AURA/NSF; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #space #astronomy #science#fourthofjuly #happyindependenceday#independenceday #4thofjuly #fireworks Instagram ดารา @nasa 1,650

Happy 4th of July! We present some stellar fireworks! Stars are essentially giant fusion reactions occurring in the vacuum of space. Because stars have so much mass, they possess powerful gravitational force-but they don't collapse because of the outward force generated by nuclear fusion, continually converting hydrogen atoms to helium. Sometimes stars begin orbiting each other, forming a binary star system. Typically this involves a white dwarf star and a red giant. Orbiting the red giant like a moon, the dwarf star rips matter from its companion until it essentially gags on the excess, coughing hot gas and radiation into space. This dramatic phenomenon is relatively common, and the white dwarf is not destroyed in the resulting nova. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #astronomy #science #fourthofjuly #happyindependenceday #independenceday #4thofjuly #fireworks Instagram ดารา @nasa 49,623

This Hubble Space Telescope picture shows a galaxy named SBS 1415+437 (also called SDSS CGB 12067.1), located about 45 million light-years from Earth. SBS 1415+437 is a Wolf-Rayet galaxy, a type of star-bursting galaxy with an unusually high number of extremely hot and massive stars known as Wolf-Rayet stars. These stars can be around 20 times as massive as the sun, but seem to be on a mission to shed surplus mass as quickly as possible - they blast substantial winds of particles out into space, causing them to dwindle at a rapid rate. A typical star of this type can lose a mass equal to that of our sun in just 100,000 years! Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA #nasa hubble #hst #hubble25 #space #galaxy #astronomy #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 24,888

New Pluto images from our New Horizons spacecraft show two very different faces of the mysterious dwarf planet, one with a series of intriguing spots along the equator that are evenly spaced. Each of the spots is about 300 miles in diameter, with a surface area that's roughly the size of the state of Missouri. Scientists have yet to see anything quite like the dark spots; their presence has piqued the interest of the New Horizons science team, due to the remarkable consistency in their spacing and size. While the origin of the spots is a mystery for now, the answer may be revealed as the spacecraft continues its approach - July 14 is the flyby - to the mysterious dwarf planet. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #newhorizons #pluto #plutoflyby #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 29,787

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) captured photographs and video of auroras from the International Space Station on June 22, 2015. Kelly wrote, "Yesterday's aurora was an impressive show from 250 miles up. Good morning from the International Space Station! ‪#‎YearInSpace‬" Image Credit: NASA #iss #spacestation #space #nasa #aurora #earth Instagram ดารา @nasa 16,497

Come Fly with New Horizons on its Approach to Pluto: Images from New Horizons show the view from aboard the spacecraft closes in on the Pluto system for a July 14 flyby. This time-lapse approach movie was made from images from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera aboard New Horizons spacecraft taken between May 28 and June 25, 2015. During that time the spacecraft distance to Pluto decreased almost threefold, from about 35 million miles to 14 million miles (56 million kilometers to 22 million kilometers). The images show Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, growing in apparent size as New Horizons closes in. As it rotates, Pluto displays a strongly contrasting surface dominated by a bright northern hemisphere, with a discontinuous band of darker material running along the equator. Charon has a dark polar region, and there are indications of brightness variations at lower latitudes. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute #nasa #apl #space #newhorizons #pluto #plutoflyby #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 19,188

Eruption of Wolf Volcano: In late May 2015, the highest volcano in the Galapagos Islands erupted for the first time in 33 years. The explosive eruption at Wolf volcano on Isabela Island sent volcanic gases and ash roughly 15 kilometers (50,000 feet) into the sky, while lava flowed through a fissure, down eastern and southeastern slopes, and eventually reached the sea. In early June, the sulfur-rich lava flows on the slopes appeared to subside. This image of Wolf was acquired on June 11, 2015, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite. The false-color image combines near-infrared, red, and green light (ASTER bands 3-2-1), with vegetated areas appearing in red and lava generally appearing charcoal or black. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using data from NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team #earth #nasa #earthrightnow #volcano #galapagos #lava #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 35,925

Countdown is progressing smoothly for today's scheduled launch of the seventh SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The rocket is scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying about two tons of supplies and science investigations in the cargo Dragon spacecraft. The chance for favorable weather at the 10:21 a.m. EDT liftoff remains at 90% percent. The two tons of cargo includes critical materials to support more than 35 of about 250 science and research investigations that will occur during the station's Expeditions 44 and 45 as well as the first of two International Docking Adapters that will enable U.S. commercial crew spacecraft to dock at the orbiting laboratory. Image Credit: NASA #spacex #nasa #space #isscargo #astronauts #iss #spacestation #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 4,183

This artist's concept shows a hypothetical "rejuvenated" planet -- a gas giant that has reclaimed its youthful infrared glow. Our Spitzer Space Telescope found tentative evidence for one such planet around a dead star, or white dwarf, called PG 0010+280 (depicted as white dot in illustration). Years ago, astronomers predicted that some massive, Jupiter-like planets might accumulate mass from their dying stars. As stars like our sun age, they puff up into red giants and then gradually lose about half or more of their mass, shrinking into skeletons of stars, called white dwarfs. The dying stars blow winds of material outward that could fall onto giant planets that might be orbiting in the outer reaches of the star system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #space #spitzer #exoplanet #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 8,196

The sun unleashed no less than five solar flares in five days this week all from the same dynamic active region (June 21-25, 2015). Many of these were associated with coronal mass ejections, most of which impacted Earth and generated beautiful auroral displays. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Flares are the bright flashes you see, followed by spirals of magnetic field lines as the active region reorganizes itself. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA #nasa #aurora #sun #solarflare #space #earth #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 34,377

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a planetary nebula named NGC 6153, located about 4,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). The faint blue haze across the frame shows what remains of a star like the sun after it has depleted most of its fuel. When this happens, the outer layers of the star are ejected, and get excited and ionized by the energetic ultraviolet light emitted by the bright hot core of the star, forming the nebula. NGC 6153 is a planetary nebula that is elliptical in shape, with an extremely rich network of loops and filaments, shown clearly in this Hubble image. Measurements show that NGC 6153 contains large amounts of neon, argon, oxygen, carbon and chlorine - up to three times more than can be found in the solar system. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Matej Novak #nasa #space #hubble #hubble25 #hst #astronomy #nebula #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 38,698