[meteorite-list] New Image of Pluto: 'Houston, We Have Geology'

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 16:07:58 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201507102307.t6AN7wRJ011755_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-image-of-pluto-houston-we-have-geology

New Image of Pluto: 'Houston, We Have Geology'
July 10, 2015

Tantalizing signs of geology on Pluto are revealed in this image from
New Horizons taken on July 9, 2015 from 3.3 million miles (5.4 million
kilometers) away.

An annotated version indicates features described in the text, and includes
a reference globe showing Pluto's orientation in the image, with the equator
and central meridian in bold.

It began as a point of light. Then, it evolved into a fuzzy orb. Now -
in its latest portrait from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft - Pluto is
being revealed as an intriguing new world with distinct surface features,
including an immense dark band known as the "whale."

As the newest black and white image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance
Imager (LORRI) appeared on the morning of July 10, members of the science
team reacted with joy and delight, seeing Pluto as never before. There
will no doubt be many similar moments to come. New images and data are
being gathered each day as New Horizons speeds closer to a July 14 flyby
of Pluto, following a journey of three billion miles.

"We're close enough now that we're just starting to see Pluto's geology,"
said New Horizons program scientist Curt Niebur, NASA Headquarters in
Washington, who's keenly interested in the gray area just above the whale's
"tail" feature. "It's a unique transition region with a lot of dynamic
processes interacting, which makes it of particular scientific interest."

New Horizons' latest image of Pluto was taken on July 9, 2015 from 3.3
million miles (5.4 million kilometers) away, with a resolution of 17 miles
(27 kilometers) per pixel. At this range, Pluto is beginning to reveal
the first signs of discrete geologic features. This image views the side
of Pluto that always faces its largest moon, Charon, and includes the
so-called "tail" of the dark whale-shaped feature along its equator. (The
immense, bright feature shaped like a heart had rotated from view when
this image was captured.)

"Among the structures tentatively identified in this new image are what
appear to be polygonal features; a complex band of terrain stretching
east-northeast across the planet, approximately 1,000 miles long; and
a complex region where bright terrains meet the dark terrains of the whale,"
said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern. "After nine and a
half years in flight, Pluto is well worth the wait."

Follow the New Horizons mission with #PlutoFlyby and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/new.horizons1
 
Last Updated: July 10, 2015
Editor: Tricia Talbert
Received on Fri 10 Jul 2015 07:07:58 PM PDT