{"id":11520,"date":"2015-10-04T12:02:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T16:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11520"},"modified":"2015-10-04T18:10:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T22:10:16","slug":"new-horizons-images-fly-over-video-of-plutos-moon-charon-show-a-dramatic-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11520","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Images &#038; fly-over video of Pluto&#8217;s moon Charon show a dramatic landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Horizons missions releases great imagery of Pluto&#8217;s moon Charon:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20151001\" target=\"_d\">Pluto\u2019s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto\u2019s largest moon, Charon \u2013 and these pictures show a surprisingly complex and violent history.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11521\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11521\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11521\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11521\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"360,360\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11521 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1.jpg\" alt=\"Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release[1]\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1.jpg 360w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release1-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charon in Enhanced Color: NASA&#8217;s New Horizons captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Charon just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. The colors are processed to best highlight the variation of Charon&#8217;s surface properties. (<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/Multimedia\/Science-Photos\/pics\/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Larger image<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>At half the diameter of Pluto, Charon is the largest satellite relative to its planet in the solar system. Many New Horizons scientists expected Charon to be a monotonous, crater-battered world; instead, they\u2019re finding a landscape covered with mountains, canyons, landslides, surface-color variations and more.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lrMBzJcvtt0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought the probability of seeing such interesting features on this satellite of a world at the far edge of our solar system was low,\u201d said Ross Beyer, an affiliate of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team from the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, \u201cbut I couldn&#8217;t be more delighted with what we see!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11522\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11522\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11522\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11522\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"360,472\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Charon-Detail-(with-connecting-lines)-9-29-15[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11522 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151.jpg\" alt=\"Charon-Detail-(with-connecting-lines)-9-29-15[1]\" width=\"360\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151.jpg 360w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Charon-Detail-with-connecting-lines-9-29-151-229x300.jpg 229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11522\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charon in Detail: Charon&#8217;s cratered uplands at the top are broken by series of canyons, and replaced on the bottom by the rolling plains of the informally named Vulcan Planum. (<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/Multimedia\/Science-Photos\/pics\/Charon-Detail-(with-connecting-lines)-9-29-15.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Larger image<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>High-resolution images of the Pluto-facing hemisphere of Charon, taken by New Horizons as the spacecraft sped through the Pluto system on July 14, and transmitted to Earth on Sept. 21, reveal details of a belt of fractures and canyons just north of the moon\u2019s equator.\u00a0This great canyon system stretches across the entire face of Charon, more than a thousand miles, and probably around onto Charon\u2019s far side. Four times as long as the Grand Canyon, and twice as deep in places, these faults and canyons indicate a titanic geological upheaval in Charon\u2019s past.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11523\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11523\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11523\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11523\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"360,360\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-15[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11523 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151.jpg\" alt=\"Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-15[1]\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151.jpg 360w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-151-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11523\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Strikingly Different Worlds: A composite of enhanced color images highlights the striking differences between Pluto and Charon. (<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/Multimedia\/Science-Photos\/pics\/Pluto-Charon-v2-10-1-15.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Larger image<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cIt looks like the entire crust of Charon has been split open,\u201d said John Spencer, deputy lead for GGI at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. \u201cIn respect to its size relative to Charon, this feature is much like the vast Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team has also discovered that the plains south of the canyon, informally referred to as Vulcan Planum, have fewer large craters than the regions to the north, indicating that they are noticeably younger. The smoothness of the plains, as well as their grooves and faint ridges, are clear signs of wide-scale resurfacing.<\/p>\n<p>One possibility for the smooth surface is a kind of cold volcanic activity, called cryovolcanism. \u201cThe team is discussing the possibility that an internal water ocean could have frozen long ago, and the resulting volume change could have led to Charon cracking open, allowing water-based lavas to reach the surface at that time,\u201d said Paul Schenk, a New Horizons team member from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Even higher-resolution Charon images and composition data are still to come as New Horizons transmits data, stored on its digital recorders, over the next year \u2013 and as that happens, \u201cI predict Charon\u2019s story will become even more amazing!\u201d said mission Project Scientist Hal Weaver, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>The New Horizons spacecraft is currently 3.1 billion miles (5 billion kilometers) from Earth, with all systems healthy and operating normally.<\/p>\n<p>New Horizons is part of NASA\u2019s New Frontiers Program, managed by the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. APL designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the science mission, payload operations, and encounter science planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Horizons missions releases great imagery of Pluto&#8217;s moon Charon: Pluto\u2019s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto\u2019s largest moon, Charon \u2013 and these pictures show a surprisingly complex and violent history. At half the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11520\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New Horizons: Images &#038; fly-over video of Pluto&#8217;s moon Charon show a dramatic landscape<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluto","category-space-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2ZO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11549,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11549","url_meta":{"origin":11520,"position":0},"title":"New Horizons: Pluto&#8217;s blue haze and water ice + Moons Nix and Hydra","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest findings from the New Horizons mission: Pluto\u2019s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History The first color images of Pluto\u2019s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue. \u201cWho would have expected a blue sky in the Kuiper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blue-Skies-on-Pluto-FINAL[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Blue-Skies-on-Pluto-FINAL1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12243,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12243","url_meta":{"origin":11520,"position":1},"title":"New Horizons: Charon&#8217;s underground ocean stretches the surface","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Checking in on the\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0probe to see its latest discovery: Pluto\u2019s \u2018Hulk-like\u2019 Moon Charon: A Possible Ancient Ocean? 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The spacecraft can now distinguish Pluto from its moon Charon with its long range camera. New Horizons Spies Charon Orbiting Pluto Pluto and Charon dance in this sequence of images taken over 6 days.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Multiple media&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Multiple media","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=36"},"img":{"alt_text":"PR_E12_proper_nosat_3fps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/PR_E12_proper_nosat_3fps.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10933,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10933","url_meta":{"origin":11520,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons: Best image yet of Pluto and its moon Charon","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Pluto and Charon are coming into focus as New Horizons' probe nears fly-by. 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Today there were two panel discussions about the mission. The first panel focused on the science: https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ej3HUvLw_sA Here's the second panel, which focuses on the spacecraft: https:\/\/youtu.be\/OOx7Oi7go3E ----- Here's a NASA's New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11520"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11525,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520\/revisions\/11525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}