Through the lenses: Pluto from 1930 to 2015

The newest photos of the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon have been released by NASA. The images are breathtaking and offer the closest view of the planet so far. After the Pluto flyby, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft started sending back images to the control centre on Earth. No doubt, the scientists are thrilled after taking a look at the fresh and the most detailed images.

During the 90's, Pluto was just a blurred point of light into focus. Now the picture is clear.

The animation below amalgamates several observations of Pluto over the course of numerous decades. The first frame is the image of Pluto as it appeared upon its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 (image courtesy: Lowell Observatory Archives). After that, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope started sending images of the planet in the early 1990's and the latest ones are from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in 2015. The final image is the most detailed picture of the planet which was released on 15 July, 2015.

Take a look at this breathtaking GIF:

Today, the @NASANewHorizons team is bringing what was previously a blurred point of light into focus. pic.twitter.com/AswUMZFxqd

- NASA (@NASA) July 15, 2015

Pluto has icy mountains and a very rough terrain. With more study on the data by New Horizons, the geology and surface composition of the dwarf planet will become clear.