Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (center) gathers his team to view the new pictures from New Horizons for the first time. Bill Ingalls / NASA / AP
NASA has released the first close-up images released of dwarf planet Pluto and two of its moons. The recordings were made by the New Horizons spacecraft, which on Tuesday paid a short visit to the Pluto system this morning and made contact with the earth.
The close-up of the ice surface of Pluto are young-looking mountains over three kilometers to see high. The remarkable thing is that it does not consist of rock, like mountains on Earth, but from hard frozen water.
It is also striking that the area has not seen any impact crater. That means that the site is “geologically young”, ie less than 100 million years old. There must be at Pluto so processes running that the surface gradually give a facelift. What processes are involved and where the energy comes from, is still unclear.
Click on photo to enlarge.
This photo, provided by NASA, was created by the American space probe New Horizons. Photo EPA / NASA JHUAPL-SwRI
Charon
From the great Pluto moon Charon has presented a detailed historical overview. Also, It should be noted that a large part of the surface area shows little craters. Or can be seen on many places valleys and gorges, including a 6 to 10 kilometers deep canyon.
Also striking is the dark area at the north pole of Charon, whose hue is probably caused by a thin ‘veneer’ of unknown composition.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Photo Reuters / NASA
hydra
From the little Pluto Moon Hydra is now for the first time (blocky) Photo available when the shape of the object is recognizable. The little potato shaped object measuring 33 by 43 kilometers. The amount of sunlight can be reflected off the moon deduced that its surface is probably covered with frozen water.
Read more tomorrow in nrc.next
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- New Horizons
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