First Close-Up Photos of Pluto Are Released by NASA

MOUNTAINS ON PLUTO One of the first images returned to Earth after the flyby. The photo was taken early on Tuesday morning and shows a small portion of the dwarf planet’s surface, with mountains up to 11,000 feet high

CHARON A new image of Charon, Pluto’s largest moon. The moon has a dark patch near its north pole, which is informally called Mordor.

APPROACHING PLUTO The last image returned to Earth before the flyby. It was taken on Monday, from a distance of 476,000 miles.