The image was captured by New Horizons at about 16:00 EDT (21:00 BST) on 13 July, 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. At the time New Horizons was 476,000 miles from the surface of Pluto.
Nasa originally posted the image to Instagram before later releasing a high-resolution version.
This is last and most detailed image of Pluto that New Horizons captured and sent to Earth before beginning its closest approach.
New Horizons has now made its closest flyby of Pluto (07:39 EDT, 12:49 BST), passing by the dwarf planet at a distance of 7,800 miles. Travelling at speeds of 31,000mph, the craft has been busy taking pictures and collecting scientific data ready to send back to Earth via Nasa's Deep Space Network.
More images, including high-resolution photos of Pluto and its moons Charon, Nix and Hydra, are expected over the coming days. Nasa estimates it will take sixteen months for all of the data collected from the Pluto system to be sent back to Earth.
Want to know when the key New Horizons moments are due to happen? Check out our timeline.