A NASA spacecraft hurtling toward a 2015 rendezvous with Pluto has captured an amazing video of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon.
The New Horizons probe used its onboard telescope to record a video of Charon and Pluto locked in their orbital dance. The movie is composed of 12 individual images taken from July 19 through July 24 — almost exactly one year before the spacecraft's flyby of the distant dwarf planet, which is scheduled for July 14, 2015.
"The image sequence showing Charon revolving around Pluto set a record for close-range imaging of Pluto — they were taken from 10 times closer to the planet than the Earth is," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement. "But we'll smash that record again and again, starting in January, as approach operations begin." [New Horizons' Flight to Pluto in Pictures]
"We are really excited to see our target and its biggest satellite in motion from our own perch, less than a year from the historic encounter ahead!" he added.
New Horizons was about 265 million miles (426 million kilometers) from Pluto when it took the 12 photos, researchers said.
This "movie" of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it raced toward Pluto in July 2014. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
At 750 miles (1,200 km) across, Charon is by far the largest of Pluto's five known moons; in fact, it's more than half as wide as Pluto itself. Charon orbits just 11,200 miles (18,000 km) above the dwarf planet's surface. For comparison, Earth's moon lies an average of 239,000 miles (385,000 km) away from us.
Because of their close proximity, Pluto and Charon orbit a central gravity point, known as a barycenter, that is located between the two binary objects. The new video released by the New Horizons science team is centered on that barycentric point.
The New Horizons team released the new video late last week, just a few days after other spectacular Pluto and Charon imagery from the ALMA radio observatory in Chile came out.
ALMA, whose name is short for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, took the photos to help guide New Horizons' journey to the Pluto system, which lies about 40 times farther from the sun than Earth does.
ALMA radio observatory in Chile observed Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, on July 15, 2014.
ALMA's observations are helping pinpoint Pluto's position and path around the sun, which to this day are imperfectly known, researchers said. The knowledge gap isn't terribly surprising, considering the dwarf planet has been observed for just one-third of an orbit to date. (Pluto takes 248 years to complete one lap around the sun and was just discovered in 1930.)
The ALMA team first observed Pluto and Charon in November 2013, then did so again once in April 2014 and twice this past July. More observations are planned for October, researchers said.
New Horizons is about to get a deep-space break. The probe's handlers plan to put it into hibernation on Aug. 29, just four days after New Horizons crosses the orbit of Neptune. They'll wake the spacecraft on Dec. 6 to get ready for the flyby, researchers said.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Copyright 2014 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.
Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.