NASA's first color photo of Pluto (Photo : Facebook)
The Dwarf Planet or Pluto may possess polar ice caps, according to NASA.
Recent photographs from the New Horizon's probe that is making its way to the Ninth Planet, showed that Pluto may have small nitrogen ice cap at its poles. The temperature at the surface of the planet is close to minus 387 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA also commented that the photographs showcase differing patterns in brightness at different junctures during Pluto's rotation. They attribute this to large-scale dark patches and bright patches.
The probe is now situated between 69 million to 64 million miles near the planet. It captured a series of images taken in the past weeks. Researchers inferred based on the photographs that it's largest moon Charon is revolving around the planet, according to Discovery.
It was over two weeks back that NASA had published the first color photographs of Pluto and Charon. Due to the proximity of the probe to the planet, now better resolution and clearer images are available. These images will be used to conduct more research on its terrain and geography, according to USA Today.
In fact, NASA is also planning on getting another series of images with much better quality in May. As the probe will mark its arrival in the planet in mid July so it can obtain better images of Pluto. Currently it is only a mere 55 million miles away from the planet.
It was only in 2006 that the International Astronomical Union controversially decided to downgrade the status of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet, as they formed a new definition of a planet.
Pluto unfortunately fell outside the decision and is now categorized as a dwarf planet.
