NASA releases clear, colour photos of Pluto's moon Charon

Charon is shown in enhanced colour captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft just before closest approach on July 14, 2015, in this image released by NASA on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (NASA / JHUAPL)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Pluto's big moon, Charon, is being revealed in all its rugged glory.

NASA released the best colour pictures yet of Charon on Thursday. The images were taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of Pluto in July and transmitted to Earth 1.5 weeks ago.

Massive canyons and fractures are clearly visible on Charon, which is more than half of Pluto's size. The canyons stretch more than 1,600 kilometers above the equator, across the entire face of Charon. These canyons are four times as long as the Grand Canyon and, in places, twice as deep.

Even better pictures are anticipated as flight controllers at Johns Hopkins University receive more data from New Horizons, now about 5 billion kilometers from Earth.