New, more detailed images of Pluto passed in recent days by the New Horizons spacecraft reveal a bewildering diversity and complexity of relief, never before seen in the solar system, according to NASA scientists.
WASHINGTON. “If an artist had represented before the Pluto flyby -for our part of New Horizons, which achieved its greatest approach to 14 July- dwarf planet probably would have thought he hallucinated. But that’s the reality, “said mission chief scientist, Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
” Pluto shows us a variety of reliefs and complexity of geological formations ever seen in the solar system, “he added in a statement.
Geologically” Pluto’s surface is as complex as that of Mars “, estimated to turn geologist Jeff Moore, a member of the mission.
The latest images show what appear to be dunes and ways of nitrogen solid mountainous regions descend into a valley network.
These snapshots, which more than doubled the visible surface Pluto also reveal vast mountainous areas with a chaotic relief reminiscent parts of Europe, or one of the icy moons of Jupiter.
They could be huge blocks of ice floating in a denser vast reservoir of solid nitrogen located on a plateau named “Sputnik Planum”.
These new images show parts of Pluto with the highest density of craters ever seen so far on the planet, near frozen plains, and geologically recent hardly have craters.
“If indeed were dunes we see on Pluto would be really surprising, as the dwarf planet’s atmosphere is too thin to produce winds,” said Bill McKinnon, University . Washington St. Louis, one of the scientists responsible for the mission
“O Pluto had a denser atmosphere in the past, or are running other processes not know; It is a puzzle, “he said.
The new images also reveal that atmospheric vapors around Pluto, which rise up to 130 kilometers altitude, consist of more layers than scientists thought.
The fog surrounding the plans to create a glow that illuminates the surface faintly approaching dusk, which became visible in the sun to Pluto New Horizons cameras.
The probe He began sending to Earth new images and other data from the planet in early September. This transmission process will continue until the end of 2016, due to the distance that separates us from the probe, which is currently almost 5,000 million kilometers from Earth.
New Horizons is currently more than 12 , 5 million kilometers of Pluto and immersed in the Kuiper Belt, the wide ring of debris surrounding the solar system.
The NASA recently selected a new destination to explore the potential probe after historic flyby of Pluto in July. It is a small object in the Kuiper Belt called “2014 MU69″ nearly 1,600 million kilometers of Pluto
The probe also began broadcasting the best Friday Three images of the moons of Pluto, Charon, Nix and Hydra, showing that they are very different.
No comments:
Post a Comment