{"id":11040,"date":"2015-07-21T17:08:54","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T21:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11040"},"modified":"2015-07-21T17:08:54","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T21:08:54","slug":"new-horizons-second-mountain-range-in-plutos-heart-images-of-nix-and-hydra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11040","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Second mountain range in Pluto’s Heart + Images of Nix and Hydra"},"content":{"rendered":"

More images from\u00a0New Horizons<\/a>\u00a0of Pluto and its Moons\u00a0were released\u00a0today:<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s New Horizons Finds Second Mountain Range in Pluto\u2019s \u2018Heart\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"nh-pluto-mountain-range[1]\"
\n<\/a>Click for larger image<\/a><\/p>\n

A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto\u2019s\u00a0Tombaugh\u00a0Regio\u00a0(Tombaugh\u00a0Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark,\u00a0heavily-cratered\u00a0terrain. This image was acquired by New Horizons\u2019 Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) and sent back to Earth on July 20. Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible.\u00a0Image Credit:\u00a0NASA\/JHUAPL\/SWRI<\/em><\/p>\n

Pluto\u2019s icy mountains have company. NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission has discovered a new, apparently less lofty mountain range on the lower-left edge of Pluto\u2019s best known feature, the bright, heart-shaped region named Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region).<\/p>\n

These newly-discovered frozen peaks are estimated to be one-half mile to one mile (1-1.5 kilometers) high, about the same height as the United States\u2019 Appalachian Mountains. The Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) discovered by New Horizons on July 15 more closely approximate the height of the taller Rocky Mountains.<\/p>\n

The new range is just west of the region within Pluto\u2019s heart called Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain). The peaks lie some 68 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Norgay Montes.<\/p>\n

This newest image further illustrates the remarkably well-defined topography along the western edge of Tombaugh Regio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a pronounced difference in texture between the younger, frozen plains to the east and the dark, heavily-cratered terrain to the west,\u201d said Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. \u201cThere\u2019s a complex interaction going on between the bright and the dark materials that we\u2019re still trying to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Sputnik Planum is believed to be relatively young in geological terms \u2013 perhaps less than 100 million years old – the darker region probably dates back billions of years. Moore notes that the bright, sediment-like material appears to be filling in old craters (for example, the bright circular feature to the lower left of center).<\/p>\n

This image was acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) and sent back to Earth on July 20. Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. The names of features on Pluto have all been given on an informal basis by the New Horizons team.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

New Horizons ‘Captures’ Two of Pluto’s Smaller Moons<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

While Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, has grabbed most of the lunar spotlight, two of Pluto’s smaller and lesser-known satellites are starting to come into focus via new images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\"nh-nix-hydra-7-21[1]\"<\/a>Click for larger image<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

‘Capturing’ Nix and Hydra\u00a0– July 21, 2015<\/a>:\u00a0Pluto\u2019s moon Nix (left), shown here in enhanced color as imaged by the New Horizons Ralph instrument, has a reddish spot that has attracted the interest of mission scientists. The data were obtained on the morning of July 14, 2015, and received on the ground on July 18. At the time the observations were taken New Horizons was about 102,000 miles (165,000 km) from Nix. The image shows features as small as approximately 2 miles (3 kilometers) across on Nix, which is estimated to be 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pluto’s small, irregularly shaped moon Hydra (right) is revealed in this black and white image taken from New Horizons’ LORRI instrument on July 14, 2015 from a distance of about 143,000 miles (231,000 kilometers). Features as small as 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) are visible on Hydra, which measures 34 miles (55 kilometers) in length. <\/em><\/div>\n

Nix and Hydra \u2013 the second and third moons to be discovered \u2013 are approximately the same size, but their similarity ends there.<\/p>\n

New Horizons’ first color image of Nix, in which colors have been enhanced, reveals an intriguing region on the jelly bean-shaped satellite, which is estimated to be 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide.<\/p>\n

Although the overall surface color of Nix is neutral grey in the image, the newfound region has a distinct red tint. Hints of a bull’s-eye pattern lead scientists to speculate that the reddish region is a crater.<\/p>\n

“Additional compositional data has already been taken of Nix, but is not yet downlinked. It will tell us why this region is redder than its surroundings,” said mission scientist Carly Howett, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. She added, “This observation is so tantalizing, I’m finding it hard to be patient for more Nix data to be downlinked.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the sharpest image yet received from New Horizons of Pluto’s satellite Hydra shows that its irregular shape resembles the state of Michigan. The new image was made by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 143,000 miles (231,000 kilometers), and shows features as small as 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) across. There appear to be at least two large craters, one of which is mostly in shadow. The upper portion looks darker than the rest of Hydra, suggesting a possible difference in surface composition. From this image, mission scientists have estimated that Hydra is 34 miles (55 kilometers) long and 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide.<\/p>\n

“Before last week, Hydra was just a faint point of light, so it’s a surreal experience to see it become an actual place, as we see its shape and spot recognizable features on its surface for the first time,” said mission science collaborator Ted Stryk, of Roane State Community College in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Images of Pluto’s most recently discovered moons, Styx and Kerberos, are expected to be transmitted to Earth no later than mid-October.<\/p>\n

Nix and Hydra were both discovered in 2005 using Hubble Space Telescope data by a research team led by New Horizons project scientist Hal Weaver, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland. New Horizons’ findings on the surface characteristics and other properties of Nix and Hydra will help scientists understand the origins and subsequent history of Pluto and its moons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More images from\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0of Pluto and its Moons\u00a0were released\u00a0today: NASA\u2019s New Horizons Finds Second Mountain Range in Pluto\u2019s \u2018Heart\u2019 Click for larger image A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto\u2019s\u00a0Tombaugh\u00a0Regio\u00a0(Tombaugh\u00a0Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark,\u00a0heavily-cratered\u00a0terrain. This image was acquired by New Horizons\u2019 Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on … Continue reading New Horizons: Second mountain range in Pluto’s Heart + Images of Nix and Hydra<\/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-11040","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-2S4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11002,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11002","url_meta":{"origin":11040,"position":0},"title":"New Horizons: Fly-over video + Charon’s mountain in a moat + Young and frozen plains","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons mission released the following video today: This simulated flyover of Pluto\u2019s Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) and Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain) was created from New Horizons closest-approach images. Norgay Montes have been informally named for Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two humans to reach the summit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"CHARON%20GRAPHIC%207-16[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CHARON-GRAPHIC-7-161-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11073,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11073","url_meta":{"origin":11040,"position":1},"title":"New Horizons: Images show atmospheric haze around Pluto and ices flowing on the surface","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Several new images from the\u00a0New Horizons fly-by were released today during the press conference. Some of the images are shown below and many more are available\u00a0in this\u00a0New Horizons gallery. 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