NASA spacecraft reveals never-before-seen features on Pluto from 1 million miles away

One million miles might sound like a lot, but for the NASA spacecraft on its way to Pluto, it was an important milestone marking its last stretch toward the dwarf planet.

And the spacecraft celebrated by snapping this photo:

The spacecraft, called New Horizons, has spent the last 9 years in space covering over 3 billion miles. So, one more million is like the last 0.2 miles in a 26.2-mile marathon. The finish line is finally in sight!

As New Horizons closes in on Pluto, it has been taking clearer and clearer photos. And now, it's less than a day away of its closest approach to Pluto, which will offer a deluge of new, exciting information about this tiny, icy world.

This is the latest in that series of images the spacecraft has been taking. And below is a compilation of images taken since July 8, by Senior Editor of The Planetary Society, Emily Lakadawalla. Note how the clarity of the features on Pluto pop out in more incredible detail as the spacecraft gets closer:

In this most recent image, a distinct circular feature, that could be a crater, is clearly visible in the bottom right corner of Pluto. That's not the only exciting features, though.

"For the first time on Pluto, this view reveals linear features that may be cliffs, as well as a circular feature that could be an impact crater," NASA said in a release.

Here's a diagram showing some of the newest features on Pluto's surface that had never been seen before the New Horizons mission:

Since New Horizons snapped the 1-million-mile image, it has traveled almost another 500,000 miles. Here was its last update:

In addition to following the New Horizons Twitter account for status updates, you can follow the speed and distance of the speedy spacecraft in real time on LIVECometData.com.