[Vince Ferrer]

I haven't read all about this mission in detail, but I am interested in the camera the probe has. At that distance the sun is not much more than a bright star and photography would be difficult. I remember that the Voyager probe’s instruments were optimized for Jupiter, and had to be reprogrammed before it flew by Uranus, specifically due to issues with less sunlight available.

[alexander_busek]

At that distance the sun is not much more than a bright star and photography would be difficult.

Given Pluto's mean distance of 39 A.U. from the Sun, Pluto receives only about 1500th (1 / 39 squared) as much light per square centimeter as the Earth (with is, by definition, 1 A.U. from the Sun). Nevertheless, the Sun is still much, much more than just a "bright star" as seen from Pluto. In fact, it would outclass every other celestial body in Pluto's sky. Even at aphelion (i.e., when farthest from the Sun, at a distance of 7.3 billion km), the Sun in Pluto's sky is still 150 times brighter than the Earth's full Moon as viewed from the Earth.

As far as the camera on board New Horizons - it is capable of discerning details on the NIGHT-side of Pluto lit only by sunlight reflected from Charon.

Regards,

[cripplecreek]

New Horizons instrumentation.

LORRI Long range reconnaissance imager telescopic camera. It provides high res geologic images.

RALPH Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer provides color composition and thermal maps

ALICE ultraviolet imaging spectrometer analyzes Pluto’s atmospheric structure

REX radio science experiment measures atmospheric composition and temperature. Passive radiometer.