NASA helps Pluto get in the Christmas spirit with new photo

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- With the help of NASA, Pluto got in the holiday spirit by getting decked out in red and green courtesy of the New Horizons probe.

The space agency released the image for Christmas, producing the brightly colored image with sensors that pick up wavelengths invisible to the human eye.

The image itself was created using scans from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array instruments on the probe from about 67,000 miles away from the planet. Three infrared wavelength channels were placed into three color channels -- red, green, and blue -- to create the "false color Christmas portrait" of Pluto, the agency said in a press release.

The Christmas image is one of many taken in July when New Horizons flew by the planet.

NASA has periodically released new images and analysis of the planet as data has been downloaded and reviewed, including new, more detailed close-up images released at the beginning of December.