Pluto is so far away that we haven't even been able to get a good look at it, not even with the crazy-powerful Hubble telescope. But with NASA's New Horizons mission closing in on our solar system' ninth planet,¹ we are getting a better and better view of Pluto every day.¹ Here's the latest, from just a few hours ago:

New Horizons will reach its closest approach to Pluto in just under 6 days, on July 14. The probe will pass within 7,800 miles of the surface...I can't wait to find out what that day's photos look like.

Update: You don't even need to wait until tomorrow for that better image...here's one that NASA released just a short while ago. Tune in tomorrow for an even better view.

1. Oh yeah, I'm not letting this one go.↩

2. New Horizons' imaging capability of Pluto surpassed Hubble's on May 15, 2015. So every picture since then has been better than what we've had previously.↩

• astronomy
• Hubble telescope
• NASA
• New Horizons
• Pluto
• science
• solar system
• space