Pluto Halo

Wallpaper Description:

The vapor surrounding Pluto gleams brightly in an image snapped by the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). Experts believe the halo is a high-altitude haze created by chemical reactions — instigated by the Sun — between nitrogen and methane. These reactions lead to tiny particles called tholins in the atmosphere. The New Horizons' team used software combining data from three images (blue, red and near-infrared) to reproduce what the view in space would look like.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute