New Horizons find blue skies and water ice on Pluto

NASA's New Horizons just reported two major findings about Pluto:

1. The skies there are blue, telling us something about the size and composition of the haze particles.  These "haze particles" scatter blue light, although the particles themselves are probably gray or red. The particles responsible for the color are "soot-like particles we call tholins," NASA writes.

2. The images also show exposed regions of water ice. NASA says they are investigating why water ice is exposed in some areas and not in others, and this piece of information could be critical to understanding the environment on the planet.