The unmanned spacecraft New Horizons offers new images of Pluto sent to earth. The pictures shown are dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon, and NASA was actually poetic. “They are a fascinating couple, two icy worlds that revolve on their own axis like figure skaters grab each other’s hand”, it says on the website of NASA.
On the surface of Pluto see his light and dark areas, while Charon is a uniform gray color. In other areas both bodies are very different. Red materials present on Pluto, can not be found on Charon. Pluto has an atmosphere, Charon not. On Pluto there is frozen nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide were found, while the surface of Charon consists of frozen water and ammonia particles. The core of Pluto consists mostly of rock, while Charon is composed of equal parts ice and rock.
“These two items have already been billions of years together in the same job, but they are completely different,” said lead investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado.
Charon has a diameter of about 1,200 kilometers, about half that of Pluto. Since the moon is much smaller than Pluto and the surface is less contrast, it was much more difficult for the New Horizon to photograph Charon. The new images, however, is that pretty well, so there are even see several details. The lighter spots on the surface of Charon would, according to the researchers point out craters, which can help them then to investigate the moon’s soil better.
Space Harness New Horizon for over nine years on the road to Pluto. On July 14, the New Horizons will pass by Pluto shave at a speed of 49.600 kilometers per hour. Scientists hope to gather measuring instruments on board a wealth of information.
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