High-definition image that Pluto's surface appears to be in hand · Public · Two satellite pictures of Karon and Hydra



It reached Pluto in about 9 yearsUnmanned spacecraft "New Horizons" was the first human being to show the detailed image of Pluto in photographsAlthough it is reported in the news etc., NASA has released an image that captured the details of the ground surface. It is clear from the image that Pluto has a mountain made of ice of about 3,500 meters in height which is about the same height as Mt. Fuji.

The Icy Mountains of Pluto | NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-icy-mountains-of-pluto

The surface image of Pluto released is here. It is a large enlargement of a part of the surface of the earth, it has a terrain with a mixture of intense irregularities and flat parts, and you can see that the impression seen at a glance is similar to the moon of the Earth. This picture was taken about an hour before New Horizons got closest to Pluto.


Where this expanded part is, it is indicated by the following tweet.

You can see that the area that was being expanded was a very small area close to the equator as shown in the image below. Although it may be thought as "Equator under,?", Pluto is inclined to the side of the earth's axis almost so that the North Pole and the South Pole are positioned on the left and right sides of the image and the Equator goes up and down in the image It has become like.


The image showing the distance to the image is kore. The state of the mountains is reflected near the center, and there are things more than 3,500 meters inside. Both are thought to be within 100 million years after being formed from that aspect, but this can be said to be a very "young" mountain when considered in the star timeline.


Because the generation of the surface that had been actively occurring immediately after Pluto was born has ended hundreds of millions of years ago, the fact that the topographical activity that produced mountains within the last 100 million years has occurred is another kind of It means that an energy source exists. Because Pluto has a small celestial body and heat generation inside the celestial body does not occur sufficiently due to the work of gravity, it is difficult to think of creating energy from the inside, so crustal changes occur due to the action of something else It is thought that it is. Jeff Moore, leader of NASA's Geological and Geophysical and Imaging (GGI) team, said that, "It may still be ongoing even now," according to the situation.

The surface of Pluto is made mainly of methane and nitrogen ice, but these ice is not strong enough to form a mountain of 3000 meter class originally. Therefore, the core part of the terrain forming the mountain may be constituted by water ice. Mr. Bill McKinnon, deputy leader of GGI, says that "Under the temperature of Pluto, water ice has rock-like characteristics".

◆ Photograph of Pluto gradually becoming finer
The presence of Pluto was an American astronomer in 1930,Clyde · TombowIt has been observed for 85 years since its discovery. It was difficult to observe because it is very far from the Earth, but gradually its appearance can be grasped gradually by observation technology that progresses one after another.

Views of Pluto Through the Years | NASA


By clicking the image below, you can see the itinerant history from Pluto to the image taken at "Distance between the eyes and the nose" gradually from the picture by the dragonfly of 1930 with GIF animation.


◆ Moon Pluto · "Charon" and "Hydra"
According to the research of New Horizons, the appearance of Pluto's moon "Karon" and "Hydra" (or "Hydra") has been gradually revealed.

Charon's Surprising, Youthful and Varied Terrain | NASA


Like Pluto, the appearance of Karon that New Horizons co-photographed is here. According to NASA, Charon 's great feature is "There is a rupture on the ground surface of 1000 km in length from the lower left to the upper right of the screen", "There is a valley at a depth of 7 to 9 km in the upper right part of the screen" and "Craters are extremely few Three points ". These features indicate that even in Karon, until recently geographical activity has occurred. Furthermore, it seems that the area which is dark in the upper part is considered to have a different composition from the other parts, and it is supposed to analyze the high resolution version image sent in the future in detail.


And the image of the moon "Hydra" discovered in 2005 is also released.

Hydra Emerges from the Shadows | NASA


Hydra's image is largely a noticeable image with a large dot, but it seems that it seems to have been captured as "clear" as not to be compared to the past. Although I do not know the exact shape of the star from this image, the length of one side of the dot corresponds to about 3 km and the size of the brightly shining part is seen as about 43 km × 33 km. Hydra is considered to be a celestial body made mostly of ice and is considered as a celestial body made of the largest ice in the universe. There is a part that seems to be dark in part, and the reflectance of light is said to be intermediate between Pluto and Karon.


High resolution images of Pluto, Karon, Hydra, and three celestial bodies are stored in the memory installed in New Horizons, and it takes about 4 months to get to the far-away earth and all the data It is planned to be sent. It is a great event that I arrived at Pluto at the end of the 4.8 billion km journey, but the image data taken at New Horizons reaches the earth in 4 hours and the clear image image is reproduced There are things that are deeply embarrassed even though you think about it many times.

◆ 2015/07/21 15:45 Addendum
A movie that reproduces the scenery like flying over Pluto as if connecting the images captured by New Horizons has been released.

Animated Flyover of Pluto's Icy Mountain and Plains - YouTube


This movie is a reproduction of a state of flying over the sky of "Norgay Montes" with animation.


Flight of Pluto earth where mountains are dotted in the flat land, the camera flying from this side toward the back of the screen. It seems that the part where the data is not obtained is grayed out in front and the back right part.


The figure of the Norgay Mountain rising with the shadow by sunlight is clearly reflected. The name of the mountain area is Tibetan Sherpa who succeeded in climbing Mt. Everest for the first time of humanity with Edmund Hillary,Tensing NorgayIt was named informally from the name of.


Then, it flew above the sky of "Sputnik Planum".


The uneven surface looks as though the wave made by the water sea made a pattern. This image is a long distance telephoto lens mounted in New Horizons "LORRI"It was taken from a distance of 77 million km, and the width of the area in sight is about 1 km.


Also, a movie that creates 3D data based on the image of New Horizons and turns round and round near the ground is also released.

The Icy Mountains of Pluto 360 spin - YouTube


A mountainous region of Pluto that shows a steep rise. This 3D movie was created by 3D image writer / directorMattias MalmerMr. Malmer who usually operates a 3D image production office, but he said he has made this work as part of his own hobby.


As the image rotates, you can see that the expression of the undulations of the mountain is in your hands.


It was a truly amazing movie that you can feel the appearance of the star in the place distant from the earth by 4.8 billion km with this reality.

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in Science, Posted by darkhorse_log