New Horizons probe beams back sharpest ever images of Pluto

Pictures taken during historic flyby of dwarf planet show details of mountains, craters and ice fields on its surface

Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft has returned the sharpest pictures of Pluto to date, taken during the probe's historic flyby of the dwarf planet in July.

The images released by the US space agency on Friday show details of Pluto's surface, including mountains, craters and ice fields, at a resolution better than 80 metres per pixel. This is 10 times the resolution of previous pictures, and displays a wealth of information on the planet, as well as the moon Charon and its other satellites.