{"id":11073,"date":"2015-07-24T16:02:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T20:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11073"},"modified":"2015-07-24T16:02:26","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T20:02:26","slug":"new-horizons-images-show-atmospheric-haze-around-pluto-and-ices-flowing-on-the-surface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11073","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Images show atmospheric haze around Pluto and ices flowing on the surface"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several new images from the\u00a0New Horizons<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Horizons Team Finds Haze,
\nFlowing Ice on Pluto<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Flowing ice and a surprising extended haze are among the newest discoveries from NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission, which reveal distant Pluto to be an icy world of wonders.<\/p>\n

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Speeding away from Pluto just seven hours after its July 14 closest approach, the New Horizons spacecraft looked back and captured this spectacular image of Pluto\u2019s atmosphere, backlit by the sun. The image reveals layers of haze that are several times higher than scientists predicted.\u00a0Image Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SWRI<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, and now \u2014 10 days after closest approach \u2014 we can say that our expectation has been more than surpassed,\u201d said John Grunsfeld, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. \u201cWith flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling.”<\/p>\n

Just seven hours after closest approach, New Horizons aimed its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) back at Pluto, capturing sunlight streaming through the atmosphere and revealing hazes as high as 80 miles (130 kilometers) above Pluto\u2019s surface. A preliminary analysis of the image shows two distinct layers of haze \u2014 one about 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface and the other at an altitude of about 30 miles (50 kilometers).<\/p>\n

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Four images from New Horizons\u2019 Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers), twice the resolution of the single-image view taken on July 13.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy jaw was on the ground when I saw this first image of an alien atmosphere in the Kuiper Belt,\u201d said Alan Stern, principal investigator for New Horizons at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. \u201cIt reminds us that exploration brings us more than just incredible discoveries \u2014 it brings incredible beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying Pluto\u2019s atmosphere provides clues as to what\u2019s happening below.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hazes detected in this image are a key element in creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto\u2019s surface its reddish hue,\u201d said Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.<\/p>\n

Models suggest the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up methane gas particles \u2014 a simple hydrocarbon in Pluto\u2019s atmosphere. The breakdown of methane triggers the buildup of more complex hydrocarbon gases, such as ethylene and acetylene, which also were discovered in Pluto\u2019s atmosphere by New Horizons. As these hydrocarbons fall to the lower, colder parts of the atmosphere, they condense into ice particles that create the hazes. Ultraviolent sunlight chemically converts hazes into tholins, the dark hydrocarbons that color Pluto\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

Scientists previously had calculated temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at altitudes higher than 20 miles (30 kilometers) above Pluto\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need some new ideas to figure out what\u2019s going on,\u201d said Summers.<\/p>\n

The New Horizons mission also found in LORRI images evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto\u2019s surface and revealing signs of recent geologic activity, something scientists hoped to find but didn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n

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Annotated image of the northwestern region of Pluto\u2019s Sputnik Planum, swirl-shaped patterns of light and dark suggest that a surface layer of exotic ices has flowed around obstacles and into depressions, much like glaciers on Earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

The new images show fascinating details within the Texas-sized plain, informally named Sputnik Planum, which lies within the western half of Pluto\u2019s heart-shaped feature, known as Tombaugh Regio. There, a sheet of ice clearly appears to have flowed \u2014 and may still be flowing \u2014 in a manner similar to glaciers on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only seen surfaces like this on active worlds like Earth and Mars,\u201d said mission co-investigator John Spencer of SwRI. \u201cI’m really smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, new compositional data from New Horizons\u2019 Ralph instrument indicate the center of Sputnik Planum is rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices.<\/p>\n

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Pluto and Charon are shown in a composite of natural-color images from New Horizons. Images from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to produce these views, which portray Pluto and Charon as an observer riding on the spacecraft would see them. The images were acquired on July 13 and 14, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAt Pluto\u2019s temperatures of minus-390 degrees Fahrenheit, these ices can flow like a glacier,\u201d said Bill McKinnon, deputy leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team at Washington University in St. Louis. \u201cIn the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain has been invaded by much newer icy deposits.\u201d<\/p>\n

View a simulated flyover using New Horizons\u2019 close-approach images of Sputnik Planum and Pluto\u2019s newly-discovered mountain range, informally named Hillary Montes, in the video here:\u00a0go.nasa.gov\/1MMEdTb<\/a><\/p>\n