New pictures of Pluto from NASA show Pluto may have a polar ice cap.  The New Horizons spacecraft has shown the possible presence of the cap in high-resolution images that show the dwarf planet.

“For now, we can only say that it’s very suspiciously suggestive of a polar cap,” said Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons spacecraft. A light patch on Pluto will be observed until June to determine if it’s indeed an ice cap.

In a press conference, Stern said the images of Pluto are the clearest ever captured by NASA.

“These images … were what I call my ‘meet-Pluto’ moment,” said Stern. “As the principal investigator of the mission, seeing it go from a point of light to an actual place that we’re approaching was actually a little bit emotional.”

Stern also said the New Horizons images are just the beginning of the study of Pluto. “This is just an appetite whetter,” said Stern. “We’re over 98 percent of the way through the journey, and we’re very excited to be on Pluto’s doorstep.”

“We on the New Horizons team feel a little bit like ocean mariners, explorers crossing between continents – weeks and weeks on the ocean in their case, nine-and-a-half years in our case. We can finally see the shore. That’s land ho! And the images are only going to get better and better from hereon out, ” added Stern.

The images of Pluto will be shared on a website for space enthusiasts.”We hope you can share in the excitement. By the time we get to the closest approach to Pluto, it’s going to blow us all away, ” said Hal Weaver, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.