Mission to Pluto: New Horizons

[Weather-history]

Wow, frozen plains on Pluto

[Polar Maritime]

NASA’s New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’

 

In the latest data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, a new close-up image of Pluto reveals a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains, in the center-left of the heart feature, informally named “Tombaugh Regio†(Tombaugh Region) after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930.

“This terrain is not easy to explain,†said Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. “The discovery of vast, craterless, very young plains on Pluto exceeds all pre-flyby expectations.â€

This fascinating icy plains region — resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth — has been informally named “Sputnik Planum†(Sputnik Plain) after the Earth’s first artificial satellite. It has a broken surface of irregularly-shaped segments, roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) across, bordered by what appear to be shallow troughs. Some of these troughs have darker material within them, while others are traced by clumps of hills that appear to rise above the surrounding terrain. Elsewhere, the surface appears to be etched by fields of small pits that may have formed by a process called sublimation, in which ice turns directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does on Earth. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150717

 

Also..

 

Edited July 17, 2015 by Polar Maritime

[AderynCoch]

If it was a Planet it would be my my favourite one, it's a beautiful sight.

It is a planet. *runs away*

[Weather-history]

Two of the Pluto satellites

[Weather-history]

More mountains on latest image

[Mokidugway]

Looks like pack ice ,seems to be a world in flux ..

[Weather-history]

Magnificent

[Weather-history]

[Polar Maritime]

New Horizons discovers Pluto's hazy atmosphere rises five times higher than expected http://www.nasa.gov/…/nasa-s-new-horizons-team-finds-haze-f…

[Weather-history]

Latest images

[Polar Maritime]

Nice detailed shots there, Taken a while to reach Earth but worth it!

Happy Birthday W.H

[Rustynailer]

During solar flares there is likely to be package loss, I hope they are lucky.

[Weather-history]

What can you say

[Polar Maritime]

What a sight WH!

 

 

http://lightsinthedark.com/2015/09/17/these-new-pictures-of-pluto-are-almost-impossibly-awesome/

Edited September 17, 2015 by Polar Maritime

[Mokidugway]

Blimey ,makes me want to get the skis out !!!

[Weather-history]

Glaciers on Pluto

[Mokidugway]

Uncanny resemblance to the Welsh coastline !...

[Weather-history]

Edited September 25, 2015 by Weather-history

[Polar Maritime]

Amazing detail on those shots.

[Methuselah]

How long before some poor, deluded woo-woo spots a network of roads?

[Weather-history]

Wow!!!

[Daniel*]

Wow!!!

Brilliant images you get a real sense of topography of Pluto.

[Weather-history]

40 years ago, we didn't have a decent image of Uranus, Neptune, let alone Pluto.

[Devonian]

Wow!!!

Yup, it really is an amazing 'corner' of the solar system. I really wish they'd gone back to Triton, odd they haven't imo it seems to be a fascinating moon - but I doubt they will in my lifetime

[Weather-history]

Patrick Moore and Clyde Tombaugh in 1980