RMF 24: Invasion of the images of Pluto – Interia

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NASA publishes another portion of pictures of Pluto and Charon sent to Earth by the probe New Horizons after the July passage next to the dwarf planet and its moons . They show the diversity and complexity of forms surface that amaze scientists. Images sent by the probe over the weekend increased more than twice the area of ​​Pluto visible at a resolution of about 400 meters per pixel.

The image of Pluto composed of pictures uploaded by the probe New Horizons

/ NASA

The US space agency NASA again intends to send an unmanned mission to the last planet in the solar system. This can happen in the next twenty years. Read more

In the picture above shows a complex of recently uploaded photos view of Pluto, which obserwowalibyśmy from a height of about 1800 km above the equator, looking out over the dark region called unofficially “Cthulhu” to the northeast, towards a bright, smooth surface of the ice fields of Sputnik Planum. The image is based on images taken by the probe on July 14 this year.
“Pluto shows us the diversity of the area and the complexity of the processes that shaped them at a level that can compete with anything so far observed in the solar system,” – says the head of the research team mission, Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder. “If an artist would paint a picture of Pluto earlier, before there dolecieliśmy, would we, that strongly exaggerated. But it just so there looks like” – he added.
researchers noticed there forms that resemble sand dunes, streams of solidified ice, and even valleys that could carve a flowing across the surface of the material. You can see there is also a chaotic arrangement mountains, resembling the views of the icy moon of Jupiter, Europe. “The surface of Pluto is as complicated as Mars,” – says Jeff Moore of Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, head of GGI (Geology, Geophysics and Imaging). “Coincidentally scattered mountains may be huge blocks of hard water ice, floating on the surface of thicker but softer layers of solidified nitrogen,” – he says.
Below you can see an image area with a particularly diverse area. In the photo area covering a width of about 350 km you will see a dark, covered with huge craters, geologically old terrain. Nearby you can see a clear, smooth and probably geologically much younger surface. On its background, in turn, stands a large dark area covered with structures that resemble sand dunes.

The approximate surface of Pluto shows the extraordinary diversity of local landforms

/ NASA

“If on the surface are actually dunes, researchers will have a serious nut to crack. The current atmosphere of Pluto very thin, it would be impossible in a familiar way they create. Or Pluto once had a much denser atmosphere, or this type of formations arise in other processes, we do not understand “- adds deputy head of GGI, William B. McKinnon of Washington University in St. Louis.
Very interesting are pictures of the sun, made nearly 16 hours after the probe New Horizons flew past Pluto now, from a distance of about 770,000 kilometers. It shows what a fine mist atmosphere of the dwarf planet. While the image on the left shows without significant amendments and mist seems to be uniform to the right you can see the picture atmosphere after appropriate treatment. Clearly visible are the many subtle layers of the atmosphere.

delicate atmosphere of Pluto in images taken by the probe New Horizons for Sun

/ NASA