{"id":12536,"date":"2016-04-25T16:53:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T20:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12536"},"modified":"2016-04-25T16:53:20","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T20:53:20","slug":"new-horizon-halo-craters-on-pluto-covered-in-methane-and-water-ices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12536","title":{"rendered":"New Horizon: ‘Halo’ craters on Pluto covered in methane and water ices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly released\u00a0images from the New Horizon<\/a>\u00a0fly-by of Pluto last summer:<\/p>\n

Pluto’s ‘Halo’ Craters<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Within Pluto\u2019s informally named Vega Terra region is a field of eye-catching craters that looks like a cluster of bright halos scattered across a dark landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Halo_context-scale_20160421[1]\"<\/a>Larger image<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The region is far west of the hemisphere NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft viewed during close approach last summer. The upper image \u2013 in black and white \u2013 sports several dozen \u201chaloed\u201d craters. The largest crater, at bottom-right, measures about 30 miles (50 kilometers) across. The craters\u2019 bright walls and rims stand out from their dark floors and surrounding terrain, creating the \u201chalo\u201d effect.<\/p>\n

In the lower image, composition data from New Horizons\u2019 Ralph\/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) indicate a connection between the bright halos and distribution of methane ice, shown in false color as purple. The floors and terrain between craters show signs of water ice, colored in blue. Exactly why<\/em> the bright methane ice settles on these crater rims and walls is a mystery; also puzzling is why this same effect doesn\u2019t occur broadly across Pluto.<\/p>\n

The upper view is a mosaic made from two separate images obtained by New Horizons\u2019 Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). A high-resolution strip taken at approximately 760 feet (232 meters) per pixel is overlain on a broader, low-resolution image taken at 2,910 feet (889 meters) per pixel.\u00a0 The images were obtained at ranges of 28,800 miles (46,400 kilometers) and 106,700 miles (171,700 kilometers) from Pluto, respectively, on July 14, 2015. The LEISA data came the same day, during the instrument\u2019s highest-resolution scan of Pluto, with New Horizons 28,000 miles (45,500 kilometers) from Pluto, with a resolution of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) per pixel.<\/p>\n

Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newly released\u00a0images from the New Horizon\u00a0fly-by of Pluto last summer: Pluto’s ‘Halo’ Craters Within Pluto\u2019s informally named Vega Terra region is a field of eye-catching craters that looks like a cluster of bright halos scattered across a dark landscape. Larger image The region is far west of the hemisphere NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft viewed during … Continue reading New Horizon: ‘Halo’ craters on Pluto covered in methane and water ices<\/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-12536","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-3gc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11228,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11228","url_meta":{"origin":12536,"position":0},"title":"New Horizons: Fly-by video + The source of Pluto’s nitrogen","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a video showing the view of Pluto as the New Horizon\u00a0probe flew past it: https:\/\/vimeo.com\/136223988 ---- I missed this posting from New Horizons last week: Scientists Study Nitrogen Provision for Pluto\u2019s Atmosphere The latest data from NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft reveal diverse features on Pluto\u2019s surface and an atmosphere\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"2015-08-12-15-PlutoEnhancedColor-md[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2015-08-12-15-PlutoEnhancedColor-md1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11855,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11855","url_meta":{"origin":12536,"position":1},"title":"New Horizons: Sharpest images yet of Pluto’s diverse surface","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe\u00a0will be\u00a0slowly downloading images and data from its July flyby of Pluto over the next year. 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