NASA’s New Horizons Team New Scientific Findings on Pluto
During a July 24 science update at NASA headquarters, new surprising imagery and science results were revealed from the recent flyby of Pluto, by the New Horizons spacecraft.
2015-07-25 18:00:00 - NASA
These included an image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager or (LORRI) – looking back at Pluto – hours after the historic flyby that shows haze in the planet’s sunlit atmosphere, that extends as high as 80 miles above Pluto’s surface – much higher than expected. Models suggest that the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks apart methane gas.
LORRI images also show evidence that exotic ices have flowed – and may still be flowing across Pluto’s surface, similar to glacial movement on Earth. This unpredicted sign of present-day geologic activity was detected in Sputnik Planum – an area in the western part of Pluto’s heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio.
Additionally, new compositional data from New Horizons’ Ralph instrument indicate that the center of Sputnik Planum is rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices.