page_title: Ralph (New Horizons)
section_title: Images
hierarchical_section_title: Ralph (New Horizons) / Images
caption_attribution_description: English: Scientists from NASA’s New Horizons mission used state-of-the-art computer simulations to show that the surface of Pluto’s informally named Sputnik Planum is covered with churning ice "cells" that are geologically young and turning over due to a process called convection. The scene above, which is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) across, uses data from the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), gathered July 14, 2015.
context_page_description: Ralph is a science instrument aboard the unmanned New Horizons spacecraft, which was launched in 2006. Ralph is a visible and infrared imager and spectrometer to provide maps of relevant astronomical targets based on data from that hardware. Ralph has two major subinstruments, LEISA and MVIC. MVIC stands for Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera and is a color imaging device, while LEISA originally stood for Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array and is an infrared imaging spectrometer for spaceflight. LEISA observes 250 discrete wavelengths of infrared light from 1.25 to 2.5 micrometers. MVIC is a pushbroom scanner type of design with seven channels, including red, blue, near-infrared, and methane.
context_section_description: During the flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015, Ralph was able to collect data on Pluto and its moons yielding various image products. In addition, the MVIC color channels are often the source of color on the otherwise panchromatic LORRI images
caption: Ralph-MVIC view's a 250 miles (400 kilometers) section of Pluto on July 14, 2015[30]
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