What Did NASA Photograph On Pluto? | Real Pictures

 

Although Pluto is no longer considered as a full-sized planet within our planetary system it still holds a special place in the solar system the ninth farthest planet from the sun was demoted and reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 but that did not in any way diminish the fascination astronomers and scientists have had for the planet for years the plethora of stunning images and discoveries from the new horizons mission have brought us closer to the former planet than we've ever been before welcome to Science Reads and in today's article we will be taking you on a journey to see some of the most breathtaking images ever captured of the icy dwarf planet exploring Pluto and beyond the new horizons mission is the first of nasa's new frontiers mission probes all of which are designed to explore a wide range of destinations within the solar system what was initially a project meant to be funded way back in 2001 kept getting pushed forward and owing to nasa's tight budget it didn't quite make the cut it wasn't until after the planetary science decadal survey that it was placed on top priority and the mission was finally reinstated on January 19th 2006 after a few delayed launch attempts the new horizon spacecraft was launched on an atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral air force station in Florida after doing its flyby of its first target Jupiter the spacecraft was even made to go into hibernation mode to conserve energy to lessen the chance of breakages and just doing occasional checks it was in the year 2015 that the spacecraft finally reached Pluto and its moon charon and also visited other worlds within the Kuiper belt the data and images obtained from the new horizons spacecraft finally gave scientists the much needed insight about the dwarf planet portrait of a planet nasa's new horizon spacecraft captured one of the most breathtaking images of the planet it is by far the most accurate natural color image of the planet as a result of the refined calibration of data and images combining blue red and infrared images taken by the new horizons multi-spectral visible imaging camera Pluto surface showcases a remarkable variety of colors as the new horizon spacecraft zipped towards Pluto and its moons it captured images with all of pluto's unique features on display from pale blue yellow orange and deep red hues you can see the different landforms each with their distinct colors you can even see the bright expense of Pluto's icy nitrogen and methane-rich area known as Sputnik Planitia or sputnik plenum the white-colored basin that forms half of the Tombaugh Regio is a smooth plane of nitrogen ice without any impact craters on its surface which means it is a relatively new and young feature with astronomers and scientists saying it was formed as a result of an object perhaps a giant meteorite slamming into the dwarf planet studies are now suggesting that this could be a clue to whether Pluto's heart is secretly hiding a subsurface ocean the dynamic duo with five moons in its system it's a whole little world of its own Charon, Styx, Nyx, Kerberos and Hydra are all Pluto satellites and out of them all Charon is the largest being nearly half the size of the planet interestingly enough it was named after Charon from Greek mythology who would ferry the souls to the underworld it was only fitting as Pluto had been named after the god of the underworld Pluto and Charon are a pair unlike any other being so similar in size they are a bit of point in space that lies in between them much like the orbits of a binary system the same surfaces of Pluto and charon are always facing each other a rare phenomenon called mutual title locking because of this both Pluto and its moon Charon are referred to as double dwarf planet or double planet in the color enhanced image captured by the new horizon spacecraft you can however see the striking differences between the two worlds where you can see Charon's polar red terrain you can also see Pluto's equatorial red terrain the image is taken by the multi-spectral visual imaging camera or mvic in infrared show the brilliant duo as never seen before pitted patterns this image taken by the telescopic camera on the spacecraft shows the true intricate pattern of what appears to be pits all across Pluto and its heart-shaped region Tombaugh Regio there has been a lot of debate and speculation over how these cavitations were caused with some scientists suggesting that they could be a combination of ice fracturing and then evaporating because there are little to no impact craters in the area they are also led to believe that the pits couldn't have formed too long ago the alignment and pattern gives us a clue about true ice flow and exchange of nitrogen and other more volatile materials between the surface and its atmosphere the stunning high resolution image was taken when the spacecraft passed within 5934 miles of the planet's surface in the southeast corner you can even spot the giant ice sheet verizon sputnik planet on the upper left quadrant of the image you can see the distinct border between the smooth sputnik plenum region and the pitted area with a series of hills from Pluto with love although we no longer count Pluto as a planet in our solar system it doesn't look like Pluto has too many hard feelings and seems to only have love to give the most intriguing thing on Pluto is the heart-shaped region discovered when the

 new horizons mission took close-up images of the planet and revealed that the planet isn't quite the barren land we once thought it was dubbed as Tombaugh Regio after Clyde Tombaugh who first discovered the planet Pluto's little heart region is in fact covered with nitrogen ice new research has now shown that the heart actually rules the entire atmospheric circulation much like a human heart rules the circulation in our bodies so how exactly does it do that according to new research during the daytime a layer of the nitrogen ice which covers the region warms up and quickly turns into vapor at night time this very vapor then condenses and forms into ice each sequence is almost like a heartbeat pumping cold icy winds around the planet this entire process sets off winds in the westerly direction which is the opposite of the dwarf planet's eastward spin thereby making the entire atmosphere spin backwards now that's totally epic bladed terrains pluto's bladed mountain terrains are unlike anything that has ever been seen on other planets in the solar system the image shows just how strikingly beautiful they really are it seems like something straight out of a sci-fi movie new horizons telescope camera was able to capture just how rugged Pluto's surface is as well as the dozens upon dozens of atmospheric layers that it has even stretching into orbital altitudes the wide-angled image captured at 11 000 miles from Pluto shows the numerous deep layers of the cold coward planet's atmosphere meanwhile the jagged landforms of the surface of the planet are made up almost entirely of methane ice the bladed terrain consists of tall deposits of this methane ice and due to the climate variations of the planet this ice tends to evaporate through a process of sublimation completely skipping out on becoming a liquid that's why you see tall deposits of the methane as opposed to just blobs of ice on the ground Pluto has a complex topography and was quite misunderstood for a long time although much of it still remains a mystery data from the mission has helped bridge many of those gaps volcanoes on Pluto another startling

 revelation that came from the data

 collected by the new horizons mission was the existence of cryo volcanoes on the dwarf planet which had scientists immediately buzzing the camera aboard the spacecraft was able to capture the highest resolution color view of two potential cryo volcanoes two towering mountains have been observed by nasa right mons standing at thirteen thousand feet and picardmonds which is the same size as Popocatopetal just outside Mexico city at nearly 18 000 feet both the peaks have large holes in their summits which were likely formed when material erupted from underneath the surface what really has everyone so interested

 is that if it is in fact a volcano

 it would be the largest feature of its kind ever discovered in the outer solar system there is only sparse distribution of red material which raises eyebrows as to why it isn't more widespread along with the fact that there is only one identified impact crater on right mods which could hinder the fact that

 the surface could be relatively new

 as opposed to volcanoes on earth that expel molten rock Pluto's cryovolcanoes would more than likely be expelling large amounts of water ice frozen nitrogen methane and ammonia no wonder they call Pluto earth's cold little brother new horizons did not capture any eruptions from either of the two so for now it remains just a very likely hypothesis with Mons data pointing in its favor feeling blue taken from when the new horizon spacecraft was about 120,000 miles from Pluto this image is the highest resolution color shot of the dwarf planet's receding crescent it highlights the otherworldly beauty of the planet against the dark expense of space the atmospheric layers of blue haze which seem to dominate the image is what scientists believe to be a photochemical smog which may form when sunlight interacts with methane and other molecules together producing a mixture of hydrocarbons just like it would happen on earth the hydrocarbons accumulate into small haze particles a fraction of a micrometer in size which then scatter blue light giving it that blue haze the picture is also extremely special as it was captured just as the new horizon spacecraft was bidding farewell to the little planet the perfect goodbye marking the accomplishment of a goal which should have been impossible and was nearly 26 years in the making as of now the new horizon spacecraft is still exploring our solar system and on April 17th 2021 it reached a distance of 50 astronomical units from the sun the images and discoveries from the

 mission have only just proved more strongly that planets in our solar system are far too complex and compelling to not study further when it comes to the icy dwarf planet we have barely only begun to scratch the surface and we cannot wait to learn more about what Pluto has to offer so what do you think what is your favorite thing about Pluto tell us in the comments don't forget to smash the like button and subscribe to Science Reads for more space articles like this thanks for reading we'll see you next time