Pluto Makes Its Instagram Debut; Crushes It

We have our first proper look at ex-planet Pluto, thanks to enterprising spacecraft New Horizons.

NASA published the photo of Pluto to Instagram, where it quickly accumulated hundreds of thousands of likes, no doubt boosted by the heart-shaped patch on display. (Though, as Pedestrian notes, it wasn’t hot enough to break the internet like a Kardashian can on a quiet afternoon.)

Gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach, which was at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday - about 7,750 miles above the surface -- roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India - making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Images from closest approach are expected to be released on Wednesday, July 15. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on Jul 14, 2015 at 4:00am PDT

It took New Horizons nine years to reach Pluto, delivering the best quality image of the dwarf planet in human history.

Shots of even greater clarity are expected to be delivered later today.

Last week we discussed the Earth’s complicated relationship with dwarf planet Pluto.

Hopefully, with this new glimpse into what Pluto is actually all about, our coolness towards this icy dwarf will thaw.

In your face, Eris!