A new close-up image of a region near Pluto’s equator reveals a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 3,500m (11,000ft) above the surface of the icy body, in a picture released by Nasa in Laurel, Maryland, yesterday. A US spacecraft sailed past the tiny planet Pluto in the distant reaches of the solar system on Tuesday, capping a journey of 4.88bn km that began nine and a half years ago. Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft passed by the ice-and-rock planetoid and its entourage of five moons. The event culminated an initiative to survey the solar system that the space agency embarked upon more than 50 years ago.
July 16, 2015 | 02:05 AM