The National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) recently presented several colorful images of the planet Pluto. The photos showed minor changes in the composition of Pluto’s surface as well as other unique features of the dwarf planet.
Scientists of the New Horizons program came up with a false color image of Pluto, which is a huge deviation from the way people viewed the planet before. Wired posted many of the collected images, which displayed the planet in a rainbow of colors that presented its different regions. The experts used a technique referred to as principal component analysis (PCA), which let them note the various color changes in the respective regions of Pluto. Pulse Headlines revealed that on July 14, 2015, the new photos were acquired using a Ralph/MVIC color camera, from a distance of about 35,000 kilometers.
The researchers were surprised to find other aspects of Pluto, such as mountains, volcanoes and a complex atmosphere. The team showed what they believed is an ice volcano on Pluto’s surface. When they viewed the upper left lobe of the planet’s heart, called Sputnik Planum, they found a very smooth surface, which could mean that the region is no more than 10 million years old. Babw News revealed that the lack of craters on the plain may mean that the surface is new and that Pluto may still be geologically active. The solar system is already 4.5 billion years old, so the 10-million-year-old region may have been created by Pluto when it produces great pressure or heat to reshape rocks and for new geological features and sites.
Pulse Headlines stated that the scientists also discovered that the upper atmosphere of Pluto is much colder and compact than they thought. The new data suggested that the extended atmosphere is only 2.5 times bigger than the planet.
“New Horizons is flying to Pluto – the biggest, brightest and most complex of the dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. This 21st-century encounter is going to be an exploration bonanza unparalleled in anticipation since the storied missions of Voyager in the 1980s,” said principal investigator of New Horizons, Alan Stern.
The new findings were highlighted at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in National Harbor, Maryland.
In the meantime, New Horizons is moving closer to the Kuiper Belt. More information and revelations about Pluto and its terrain and atmosphere are expected soon.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
