Pluto pictures: new high-resolution image delights and intrigues scientists

'I think the solar system saved the best till last' says lead investigator as Nasa states only 1-2% of data from mission to dwarf planet has been downloaded so far

Pluto has giant plains threaded with trenches and studded with hills, Nasa revealed on Friday, as researchers of the New Horizons mission released a new image of the surface and discussed the findings of the growing data they are gathering from the dwarf planet.

Principal investigator Alan Stern, who has devoted much of the past 20 years to the mission to Pluto, unveiled a new high-resolution image of the surface: "the icy frozen plains of Pluto" adjacent to 11,000ft-high mountains.