This Is What a Sunset Looks Like on Pluto

New views of Pluto's backside have been downlinked to Earth, revealing more information about the dwarf planet's fascinating composition.

Taken by New Horizons' Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera from just 11,000 miles away, these black-and-white high-resolution shots of Pluto show an impressive amount of detail, including at least a dozen striations of a fog-like haze in Pluto's atmosphere. According to New Horizons team member Will Grundy, "these low-lying hazes hint at the weather changing from day to day on Pluto, just like it does here on Earth."

"Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto's horizon," NASA says in the photos' captions. "The smooth expanse of the informally named icy plain Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high, including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on the skyline."

The new images also contain evidence that Pluto has a similar hydrological cycle to that of Earth, except with "soft and exotic ices" like frozen nitrogen. Alan Howard, another New Horizons scientist, says the team "did not expect to find hints of a nitrogen-based glacial cycle on Pluto operating in the frigid conditions of the outer solar system… this would be directly comparable to the hydrological cycle that feeds ice caps on Earth."

When the world first got a real glimpse of Pluto back in July, it was a true global cultural moment, full of scientific wonder and carrying the reminder that space exploration is still crucially important. These new images only serve to strengthen that reminder.