Pluto from the flight of the probe. “We’re going north, this dark area is the region of Cthulhu …” – News Gazeta.pl

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Growing almost 3 km above the surface of the dwarf planet sharp peaks of Norgay (lat. Norgay Montes, named Tenzing Norgay, one of a pair of first conquerors of Mount Everest) is slowly giving way to bright plains on the left side – a plateau of Sputnik (Sputnik Planum). On the right side the whole time looming dark area – the so-called. Region Cthulhu (lat. Cthulhu Regio, literally “area of ​​Cthulhu”), named after a mythical monster with prose HP Lovecraft – such an extraordinary landscapes of Pluto see the latest film released by NASA.

Video of Pluto

The movie was assembled from photographs taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of Pluto in June 2015. It was not until August 11, “consignment” from the probe reached the Earth. Pluto was for years a mystery for researchers, so photos and other information that scientists have received from the New Horizons spacecraft, provide an invaluable research material. Increasing knowledge of Pluto and similar objects he can tell scientists a lot about the history of the solar system.

As the above discovery caused an absolute sensation. It turned out that Pluto are, among others, young mountain chain , formed far approx. 100 million years ago. According to NASA, this may mean that this region of the planet is still geologically active. So far in the solar system processes and volcanic activity inside the ice-rock globes it was only observed on the satellites of large planets. But Pluto is no one’s satellite. What heats the interior? We do not know.

A similar excitement of NASA triggered by the discovery in the middle of the film clearly visible in the area – the so-called. “Heart” – icy plains, practically devoid of craters from meteor impacts . And that means you probably still are in the process of shaping the geological processes.

The mission of New Horizons

The probe New Horizons is the first in the history of mankind flew close to Pluto – the dwarf planet until recently considered to be the ninth planet of the solar system. New Horizons mission is part of NASA’s “new frontiers” (ang. New Frontiers), conducted by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. The creators and operators probes are scientists from the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University of Maryland.

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