{"id":10955,"date":"2015-07-12T17:10:36","date_gmt":"2015-07-12T21:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10955"},"modified":"2015-07-12T17:10:36","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T21:10:36","slug":"new-horizons-latest-image-shows-lines-and-large-dark-areas-on-pluto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10955","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Latest image shows lines and large dark areas on Pluto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest\u00a0New Horizons<\/a>\u00a0image of Pluto shows intriguing lines and polygonal shapes on the side of the planet that will be facing away from the probe when it makes its closest approach on Tuesday (July.14):<\/p>\n

New Horizons’ Last Portrait of Pluto’s Puzzling Spots<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Three billion miles from Earth and just two and a half million miles from Pluto, NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft has taken its best image of four dark spots that continue to captivate.<\/p>\n

\"nh-pluto-7-11-15[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New Horizons\u2019 Last Portrait of Pluto\u2019s Puzzling Spots\u00a0–\u00a0July 11, 2015<\/a>:\u00a0New Horizons’ last look at Pluto’s Charon-facing hemisphere reveals intriguing geologic details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image, taken early the morning of July 11, 2015, shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes. This image was captured when the spacecraft was 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) from Pluto. <\/em><\/div>\n

The spots appear on the side of Pluto that always faces its largest moon, Charon\u2014the face that will be invisible to New Horizons when the spacecraft makes its close flyby the morning of July 14. New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, describes this image as \u201cthe last, best look that anyone will have of Pluto\u2019s far side for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spots are connected to a dark belt that circles Pluto\u2019s equatorial region. What continues to pique the interest of scientists is their similar size and even spacing. \u201cIt\u2019s weird that they\u2019re spaced so regularly,\u201d says New Horizons program scientist Curt Niebur at NASA Headquarters in Washington.\u00a0 Jeff Moore of NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, is equally intrigued. \u201cWe can\u2019t tell whether they\u2019re plateaus or plains, or whether they\u2019re brightness variations on a completely smooth surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

The large dark areas are now estimated to be 300 miles (480 kilometers) across, an area roughly the size of the state of Missouri. \u00a0In comparison with earlier images, we now see that the dark areas are more complex than they initially appeared, while the boundaries between the dark and bright terrains are irregular and sharply defined.<\/p>\n

In addition to solving the mystery of the spots, the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team is interested in identifying other surface features such as impact craters, formed when smaller objects struck the dwarf planet. Moore notes, \u201cWhen we combine images like this of the far side with composition and color data the spacecraft has already acquired but not yet sent to Earth, we expect to be able to read the history of this face of Pluto.\u201d<\/p>\n

When New Horizons makes its closest approach to Pluto in just three days, it will focus on the opposing or \u201cencounter hemisphere\u201d of the dwarf planet. On the morning of July 14, New Horizons will pass about 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) from the face with a large heart-shaped feature that\u2019s captured the imagination of people around the world.<\/p>\n

At 7:49 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 14 New Horizons will zip past Pluto at 30,800 miles per hour (49,600 kilometers per hour), with a suite of seven science instruments busily gathering data. The mission will complete the initial reconnaissance of the solar system with the first-ever look at the icy dwarf planet.<\/p>\n

Follow the path of the spacecraft in coming days in real time with a visualization of the actual trajectory data, using\u00a0NASA\u2019s\u00a0online Eyes on Pluto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stay in touch with the New Horizons mission with #PlutoFlyby and on Facebook at:\u00a0www.facebook.com\/new.horizons1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0image of Pluto shows intriguing lines and polygonal shapes on the side of the planet that will be facing away from the probe when it makes its closest approach on Tuesday (July.14): New Horizons’ Last Portrait of Pluto’s Puzzling Spots Three billion miles from Earth and just two and a half million miles … Continue reading New Horizons: Latest image shows lines and large dark areas on Pluto<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluto","category-space-science","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2QH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10906,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10906","url_meta":{"origin":10955,"position":0},"title":"New images of Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"New images of Pluto taken by the\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0probe have just been released: Latest Images of Pluto from New Horizons These are the most recent high-resolution views of Pluto sent by NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft, including one showing the four mysterious dark spots on Pluto that have captured the imagination of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"nh-pluto-bw-series-7-6-2015[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nh-pluto-bw-series-7-6-20151.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10752,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10752","url_meta":{"origin":10955,"position":1},"title":"Latest New Horizons images give hints of highly varied terrain","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest images of Pluto from the New Horizons probe: Different Faces of Pluto Emerging in New Images from New Horizons\u00a0 The surface of Pluto is becoming better resolved as NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft speeds closer to its July flight through the Pluto system. A series of new images obtained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"nh-lorri-images-6-1-15[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/nh-lorri-images-6-1-151-1024x777.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9970,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9970","url_meta":{"origin":10955,"position":2},"title":"New Horizons spots small moons circling Pluto","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0probe is closing in on the Pluto system, which it will fly by in July. the latest pictures from the spacecraft are processed to enhanced the details Pluto's moons : 85 Years after Pluto\u2019s Discovery, New Horizons Spots Small Moons Orbiting Pluto Exactly 85 years after Clyde Tombaugh\u2019s historic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"LORRI_4x4_Presser_02[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/LORRI_4x4_Presser_021.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/LORRI_4x4_Presser_021.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/LORRI_4x4_Presser_021.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/LORRI_4x4_Presser_021.gif?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10946,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10946","url_meta":{"origin":10955,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons: Pluto features coming into focus","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an image of Pluto taken by the\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0and released on Friday\" Houston, We Have Geology It began as a point of light. 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