BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 28 (UPI) — A new video gives viewers a better idea of how NASA scientists study Pluto. It’s the first video recorded at the edge of the solar system.
Also, the dwarf planet looks pretty cool through a rainbow-colored filter.
The footage was captured by LEISA, an infrared imaging spectrometer on the New Horizons probe. The camera is designed to absorb specific wavelengths of infrared light as Pluto moves across its lens.
Because the human eye can’t detect infrared light, scientists on the New Horizons mission translated the infrared color spectrum into a visible rainbow.
Of course, NASA is not just in the business of pretty pictures. Researchers use infrared imagery to analyze the molecular makeup of Pluto’s surface.
“The discovery of water ice on Pluto was made using the data in this movie,” NASA scientist Alex Parker wrote in a blog post. “The discovery of ammonia ice within the informally-named Organa crater was made using data from a similar movie of Charon.”
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