New Horizons Keeps Giving us More of Pluto – Wow!

September 12, 2015 – From icy new mountain ranges to spectacular images of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, New Horizons is unlocking the mysteries of the dwarf planet as more of its data gets shared with us here on Earth.

The image above, captured by New Horizons on July 14, 2015 using its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager and shot at a distance of 77,000 kilometers (48,000 miles) above the planet features 1.5 kilometer-high (just under a mile) icy peaks in the heart-shaped area that appeared on earlier Pluto imagery.

The compiled image appearing below is how Pluto would appear if we were flying over it at an altitude of 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles). This is an area that spans Pluto’s equator and features a prominent icy expanse seen to the right in the image.

Are the images what astronomers expected? No! For a dwarf planet previously thought to be a primordial remnant of the early period in the Solar System’s formation, Pluto has turned out to be complex, diverse in features and landforms, and geologically active. We are seeing nitrogen ice flows oozing from mountains, valleys that appear to have been carved by something flowing over the surface, features that bear a striking resemblance to the icy surfaces on Europa, and even dunes like those we have seen on Titan. As one scientist stated, “seeing dunes on Pluto…completely wild because Pluto’s atmosphere today is so thin…it’s a head-scratcher.”

Zeroing in on terrain detail provides incredible images of the icy plain as seen below. Note the variety of landscape features. This is unlike any other planetary body in the Solar System with maybe the exceptions of Earth and Titan.

And as we zero in for an even closer view across an image a mere 350 kilometers (220 miles) in width we see heavily cratered terrain right next to smoother, geologically active features.