The latest images of Pluto just published by NASA show new details of this dwarf planet. So far, the photographs were usually taken from the New Horizons space probe’s LORRI camera, instead these ones were taken by MVIC (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera), one of the components of the Ralph small telescope that’s part of probe’s payload. These pictures show in an extraordinary way mountains, glaciers and the hazy layers of Pluto’s atmosphere.
These new pictures were taken on July 14, 2015 during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto. They’re high resolution so can provide new details on various geological features showing a small world with a surprisingly diverse surface. Despite its small size, it’s under various points of view much closer to the Earth than the Moon.
The mountains in the image above are as high as 3,500 meters (11,000 feet). In the foreground there are the ones informally called Norgay Montes, in the background there are the ones informally called Hillary Montes. The photograph shows in an extraordinary way more than a dozen layers of Pluto’s atmosphere that extends for at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the ground level. The hazes in the atmosphere had already been observed, the new photos are giving us a better idea.
Other images allowed to have new details of the heart-shaped area on Pluto. There, there are glaciers that show a phenomenon similar to the hydrological cycle existing on the Earth which, however, on this dwarf planet isn’t based on water but rather on other types of ice such as that of nitrogen.
The scenery in the area called Sputnik Planum is of an “arctic” type because the glaciers, probably of nitrogen, remind of the ones of water ice of Greenland or Antarctica. It’s a surprising discovery because scientists didn’t expect to find an activity of that kind at the very low temperatures existing on Pluto.
All images of Pluto are extraordinary because before the arrival of the New Horizons space probe the best photographs were made of a bunch of pixels. However, the ones that keep on arriving are even more extraordinary than expected because they show a dwarf planet that’s froze and yet someway alive. Many feared that Pluto would turn out to be interesting only for planetary scientists, instead it looks somewhat similar to the Earth and that’s making it spectacular for everyone.
