NASA Reveals Pluto’s Night Side

NASA’s New Horizons probe took a stunning snapshot of Pluto’s night side during its flyby, featuring a halo created by the dwarf planet’s hazy atmosphere. NASA released the photo on Friday, explaining that the layer of hydrocarbon haze stretches up to 80 miles into the atmosphere and is believed to be responsible for the planet’s reddish color. "My jaw was on the ground when I saw this first image of an alien atmosphere in the Kuiper Belt," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said in a press release. NASA also unveiled a false color image of Pluto on Friday, also taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconaissance Imager.