On 12 November, Nasa released an image (above) to the public which depicted dwarf planet Pluto in an array of vibrant colours. The space agency revealed scientists involved in the New Horizons mission said the false colour image was created to highlight the different terrains on Pluto.

"New Horizons scientists made this false colour image of Pluto using a technique called principal component analysis to highlight the many subtle colour differences between Pluto's distinct regions. The image data were collected by the spacecraft's Ralph/MVIC colour camera on July 14 at 11.11am UTC, from a range of 22,000 miles (35,000km)," it said in a statement.

The image was presented at the American Astronomical Society by Will Grundy on 9 November. IBTimes UK looks at other psychedelic space images released by Nasa using false colour.

Nasa
A close-up of loops in a magnetic active region of the sun in a false color image Reuters
Saturn's moon
Saturn's moon Iapetus in a false-color mosaic which shows the entire hemisphere visible from Cassini on the outbound leg of its encounter with the two-toned moon. Reuters
Sun
An extreme ultraviolet image, using false colours to trace different gas temperatures, of the sun taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory Reuters
Saturn
Saturn's atmosphere and its rings in a false colour composite. The mosaic shows the tail of Saturn's huge northern storm. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light. Reuters
Mercury
his false-colour image of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during NASA's MESSENGER's mission. The colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface. Reuters/NASA
Sun
Giant fountains of fast-moving, multimillion-degree gas in the outermost atmosphere of the Sun Reuters/NASA
Saturn
This Saturn image is constructed from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows the glow of auroras streaking out about 1,000 km from the cloud tops of Saturn's south polar region Reuters/NASA
Saturn's moon Rhea
Hemispheric color differences on Saturn's moon Rhea are apparent in this false-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft Reuters/NASA
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