{"id":11549,"date":"2015-10-08T13:59:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11549"},"modified":"2015-10-08T13:59:11","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T17:59:11","slug":"new-horizons-plutos-blue-haze-and-water-ice-moons-nix-and-hydra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11549","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Pluto’s blue haze and water ice + Moons Nix and Hydra"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest findings from the New Horizons<\/a> mission:<\/p>\n

Pluto\u2019s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first color images of Pluto\u2019s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue.<\/p>\n

\"Blue-Skies-on-Pluto-FINAL[1]\"<\/a>
Pluto\u2019s Blue Sky<\/strong>: Pluto\u2019s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture taken by the New Horizons Ralph\/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The high-altitude haze is thought to be similar in nature to that seen at Saturn\u2019s moon Titan. The source of both hazes likely involves sunlight-initiated chemical reactions of nitrogen and methane, leading to relatively small, soot-like particles (called tholins) that grow as they settle toward the surface. This image was generated by software that combines information from blue, red and near-infrared images to replicate the color a human eye would perceive as closely as possible. (Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SwRI)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cWho would have expected a blue sky in the Kuiper Belt? It\u2019s gorgeous,\u201d said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n

The haze particles themselves are likely gray or red, but the way they scatter blue light has gotten the attention of the New Horizons science team. \u201cThat striking blue tint tells us about the size and composition of the haze particles,\u201d said science team researcher Carly Howett, also of SwRI. \u201cA blue sky often results from scattering of sunlight by very small particles. On Earth, those particles are very tiny nitrogen molecules. On Pluto they appear to be larger \u2014 but still relatively small \u2014 soot-like particles we call tholins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"context_map3-FINAL[1]\"<\/a>
Water Ice on Pluto<\/strong>: Regions with exposed water ice are highlighted in blue in this composite image from New Horizons’ Ralph instrument, combining visible imagery from the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) with infrared spectroscopy from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA). The strongest signatures of water ice occur along Virgil Fossa, just west of Elliot crater on the left side of the inset image, and also in Viking Terra near the top of the frame. A major outcrop also occurs in Bar\u00e9 Montes towards the right of the image, along with numerous much smaller outcrops, mostly associated with impact craters and valleys between mountains. The scene is approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) across. Note that all surface feature names are informal. (Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SwRI)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Scientists believe the tholin particles form high in the atmosphere, where ultraviolet sunlight breaks apart and ionizes nitrogen and methane molecules and allows them to react with each other to form more and more complex negatively and positively charged ions. When they recombine, they form very complex macromolecules, a process first found to occur in the upper atmosphere of Saturn\u2019s moon Titan. The more complex molecules continue to combine and grow until they become small particles; volatile gases condense and coat their surfaces with ice frost before they have time to fall through the atmosphere to the surface, where they add to Pluto\u2019s red coloring.<\/p>\n

In a second major finding, New Horizons has detected numerous small, exposed regions of water ice on Pluto. The discovery was made from data collected by the Ralph spectral composition mapper on New Horizons.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarge expanses of Pluto don\u2019t show exposed water ice,\u201d said science team member Jason Cook, of SwRI, \u201cbecause it\u2019s apparently masked by other, more volatile ices across most of the planet. Understanding why water appears exactly where it does, and not in other places, is a challenge that we are digging into.\u201d<\/p>\n

A curious aspect of the detection is that the areas showing the most obvious water ice spectral signatures correspond to areas that are bright red in recently released color images<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m surprised that this water ice is so red,\u201d says Silvia Protopapa, a science team member from the University of Maryland, College Park. \u201cWe don\u2019t yet understand the relationship between water ice and the reddish tholin colorants on Pluto’s surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Horizons spacecraft is currently 3.1 billion miles (5 billion kilometers) from Earth, with all systems healthy and operating normally.<\/p>\n

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

===<\/p>\n

See also this report on two of Pluto’s smaller moons:\u00a0Pluto\u2019s Small Moons Nix and Hydra\u00a0–\u00a0Pluto New Horizons<\/a><\/p>\n

Pluto and its largest moon Charon dance around each other, making circles around their common center of mass, which lies in an empty space between them. Around the dancing couple are four small moons. In order of increasing distance, their names are Styx (just beyond Charon), then Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. These tiny moons also orbit around the system\u2019s center of mass. The orbits line up like a miniature solar system, except with a binary system at the center, similar to the planetary system around the star Kepler 47<\/a>. All four of the small moons are less than about 30 miles (50 kilometers) in their longest dimension. Each has a lumpy shape because, unlike Pluto and Charon, they aren\u2019t big enough for gravity to squish them into a ball.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005, shortly before New Horizons launched in 2006, and their initials were a subtle nod to the New Horizons mission that started the search for them, just as the P and L in Pluto are a subtle nod to astronomer Percival Lowell, who began the search for Pluto.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"nh-10-4blog-pluto_schem_1[1]\"<\/a>
The orbits of Pluto and its moons Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra are illustrated around their common center of mass. Credit: SwRI\/S. Porter<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"nh-10-4blog-frame4_annotated[1]\"<\/a>
Pluto\u2019s moon Nix is shown in high-resolution black-and-white and lower resolution color. Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SwRI<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"nh-10-4blog-hydra_stack_1_anno[1]\"<\/a>
Pluto\u2019s moon Hydra as seen from NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft, July 14, 2015. Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SwRI<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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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 Belt? It\u2019s gorgeous,\u201d said Alan … Continue reading New Horizons: Pluto’s blue haze and water ice + Moons 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-11549","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-30h","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11073,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11073","url_meta":{"origin":11549,"position":0},"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. 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Several new pictures have been posted in\u00a0the\u00a0Science\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"Composite-Haze-Image-9-10-15[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Composite-Haze-Image-9-10-151.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12352,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12352","url_meta":{"origin":11549,"position":4},"title":"New Horizons: Latest papers reveal new aspects of Pluto and its moons","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest results from the New Horizons probe to Pluto and beyond: Research Papers in Science Reveal New Aspects of Pluto and Its Moons A year ago, Pluto was just a bright speck in the cameras of NASA's approaching New Horizons spacecraft, not much different than its appearances in telescopes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"TA009784.cdr","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/PlutosHaze1-1024x484.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11008,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11008","url_meta":{"origin":11549,"position":5},"title":"New Horizons: Video of news conference + A frozen heart of CO + Pluto’s atmosphere & tail","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lots of interesting results from New Horizons released today.\u00a0Here is a video of the news\u00a0briefing: https:\/\/youtu.be\/xAGwxl7FZWw ---- An early discovery: Frozen Carbon Monoxide in Pluto\u2019s 'Heart' Peering closely at the \u201cheart of Pluto,\u201d in the western half of what mission scientists have informally named Tombaugh Regio \u00a0(Tombaugh Region), New Horizons\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto1-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549","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=11549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11555,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549\/revisions\/11555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}