Tag Archives: Pluto

The Vistas of Pluto

New high resolution data inbound from New Horizons contains some amazing views of Pluto.  The image above reveals thin upper layers of atmosphere and mountains illuminated at a shallow angle through a surface level haze.  Other views have features that resemble parts of an Earth-like … Continue reading

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The cold, thin atmosphere of Pluto

Pluto’s thin atmosphere is mainly nitrogen, and leaking away from the planet at a significant rate.  Scientists speculate that cryovolcanic activity is continually releasing enough new nitrogen vapor to keep the atmosphere from completely dissappearing. Cryovolcanic.  That’s a term you … Continue reading

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The Icy Mountains of Pluto

  Some compressed images are starting to arrive from Pluto.  This photo shows an area of mountains, probably composed of water ice.  Surprisingly unmarked by impact craters, the features must be fairly young, possibly less than 100 million years old.  They may … Continue reading

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New Horizons has communicated with mission control

All systems normal after flying within 7800 miles of Pluto; first images to be released tomorrow afternoon.  New Horizons is about three billion miles away from earth, and it took nine and a half years to get there (even radio … Continue reading

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Pluto, July 11

This image is the last look at Pluto’s Charon-facing hemisphere. with some intriguing hints of features that may be impact craters and ridges.  Unfortunately, there won’t be any higher resolution images collected.  As it passes Pluto on Tuesday, New Horizons … Continue reading

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Pluto, July 8

(from NASA and JHAPL’s latest update)

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Seven days until New Horizons reaches Pluto

  Alien base.  That’s my prediction.  Stay tuned.

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First Color Movies of Pluto and Charon

First color movie of Pluto and Charon, courtesy of NASA and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.  Pluto has a distinct reddish tint, while Charon is more grey.

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More surface details apparent as New Horizons draws closer to Pluto

The New Horizons space probe is seeing more as it approaches Pluto.  The spacecraft is closing in at the rate of 750,000 miles per day, increasing image clarity at an accelerating rate: “By late June the image resolution will be four times … Continue reading

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NASA’s New Horizons Probe Detects Surface Features & Possible Polar Cap on Pluto

For the first time, images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are revealing bright and dark regions on the surface of faraway Pluto – the primary target of the New Horizons close flyby in mid-July.  The images were captured in early … Continue reading

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