Maybe #Plutonians climb #mountains on #Pluto. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/22/new-horizons-snaps-photos-of-a-new-mountain-range-on-pluto-112/

New Horizons has been hard at work taking high-resolution photos of Pluto — a dwarf planet we’ve never really been able to see in detail — but the newest point of interest spotted is helping scientists understand the geological make-up of the dwarf planet. Namely, a second mountain range with peaks that rival those of the Appalachian Mountains back here at home.

New Horizons Discovers Pluto Has a Heart of Ice

The newly discovered mountain range is located on Pluto’s Tombaugh Regio (also known as the “heart” of Pluto), which is located in the southwest portion of the dwarf planet. The mile-high mountain range sits between a patch of icy, flat terrain that has been named Sputnik Planum.

Initial pictures New Horizons captured of Pluto gave scientists the impression that the glowing “heart” was a single entity, but newer photos are beginning to come back showing that there are two patches of ice: the Sputnik Planum, which is a patch of land less than 100 million years old, and a darker area that is billions of years old.

Pluto is Rich in Geological Diversity

Even with all of the new photos New Horizons has taken, scientists still have very much to learn about Pluto. The discovery of this new mountain range shows just how diverse a planet of ice can really be.

In the newest image, we can see how a very dark surface riddled with the marks of craters. This is the surface of the planet that is billions of years old. The Sputnik Planums; however, are very smooth and suggests that this area is significantly younger.

“There’s a complex interaction going on between the bright and the dark materials that we’re still trying to understand,” said Jeff Moore, who heads the geology, geophysics, and imaging team on New Horizons.

Discovering Pluto’s Moons

New Horizons also managed to snap a few pictures of two of Pluto’s five moons using its high resolution camera, Lorri. In the highest resolution picture to date, scientists can see that the satellite moon, Hydra, has two large craters, and its top half appears to be darker than its bottom. This indicates that, like Pluto, its surface make-up may also be varied.

A new photo of Nix was also captured with boosted color representation, which helped scientists identify surface features they haven’t been able to view yet. The only notable feature found was a reddish spot that scientists believe to be a crater.

More data has been taken of Nix but hasn’t been downlinked yet, so keep your eyes peeled for more images from New Horizons soon. Story to follow.

---

 

 

Get into your own Pluto adventure with SnailVR:

 

New Horizons Snaps Photos of a New Mountain Range on Pluto

Learning new things about #Pluto and #Charon is the new norm as of yesterday. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/15/pluto-and-charon-shows-their-unique-orbit-245/

Upon reception of new data and photographs from the New Horizons mission that flew by Pluto on Tuesday, scientists are now reporting that, unlike the earth and the moon’s orbit, Pluto and Charon have quite a divergent orbit. It’s so different, in fact, that it is the only instance of this type of orbit in the solar system.

What’s different about Pluto and Charon’s orbits?

The data from the mission revealed new information about both Pluto and Charon. It was found that Pluto is only somewhere around 8 ½ times more massive than its moon Charon. On top of this, Pluto and Charon are only 12,200 miles (19,634 km) apart. To put this in perspective, Earth is about 81 times more massive than the moon and are 238,900 miles (384,472 km) apart. Because the differences in mass are so minute and because they are so close, Charon doesn’t actually orbit around Pluto.

In reality, Pluto and Charon have what is known as a binary system, and this is the only orbit of its kind in our solar system. What this means is that the small difference of masses and the close proximity causes both cosmic bodies to pull on each other, creating a gravitational point between the two that Pluto and Charon both orbit.

How is this orbit possible?

Scientists first reactions were that Charon was once a piece of Pluto that was broken off due to a cataclysmic collision with another planetoid. This is very similar to how our moon was formed. However, further investigation shows that Pluto and Charon are almost too different for that theory to be viable.

Pluto is very rocky and has a very thick atmosphere while Charon is made of about as much ice as it is rock and has no atmosphere at all. There are nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide ices on Pluto, but Charon mainly has water and ammonia ice. As of now, it is clear that the two bodies have been together for billions of years, yet they are so incredibly different.

What about Pluto’s other moons?

Pluto has four other, smaller moons besides Charon: Hydra, Nix, Kerberos, and Styx. Like Pluto and Charon, they also orbit the gravitational point the two larger bodies create. Because they orbit two different cosmic bodies, the sun could rise in the east and set in the west on one day, then rise in the west and set in the south on another. Since the four smaller moons orbit the gravitational pull at a farther distance, it is safe to say that the binary system of both Pluto and Charon have four moons.

---

A space adventure of learning with Space Scouts can be delivered right to your door:

 

Pluto and Charon Shows Their Unique Orbit