The picture in question:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g6gz8g/pluto_in_1994_and_in_2018/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
In: Technology
Pluto is fairly well lit, mostly because the sun is stupidly bright, and the cameras on the probes are optimized for lower light levels than a camera on Earth would be.
Pluto is about as well lit as the surface of the Earth just after sunset but before it gets really dark. This means that it’s better lit than the inside of most offices(your eyes are weird so it may not seem that way) and combined with a large camera at close range with longer exposures you can capture plenty of light to make it look well lit.
NASA cameras also use a cheat to get better pictures. Instead of a sensor with Red, Green, and Blue elements on it they have multiple skinny sensors that capture a narrow strip of Red, a strip of Blue, a strip of Near IR, and then they overlay all of those strips and stitch them together. This gives them more sensitive and lower noise sensors for each color band, and more wavelengths than you can see with your eye to let them add some details.
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