After more than two months since the extraordinary Pluto flyby of NASA’s New Horizons space probe some people might think that the data arrived to Earth are enough to know this dwarf planet comprehensively. Reality keeps on being very different on this small world frozen yet as varied as you would expect from a geologically active planet with an atmosphere that can erode its soil. Here then is the image of a “snakeskin” surface that again leaves scientists puzzled and surprised.
One area in particular aroused emotions in the geologists who are trying to figure out what types of activities might have created the varied surface of Pluto and might still be ongoing. This is an area informally called Tartarus Dorsa on the boundary between day and night.
This view combines images in blue, red and infrared taken by the MVIC (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera) instrument, one of the components of the Ralph small telescope that is part of probe’s payload during the July 14, 2015 flyby and shows a large area about 530 km (330 miles) across.
William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead, admitted that it will take time to understand the origin of this strange landscape. He expressed the hypothesis that it was created by a combination of tectonic forces and ice sublimation but the data needs to be analyzed to see if they can build a theory around it.
The New Horizons spacecraft also sent a color high-resolution picture of Pluto. On NASA’s website you can find the version at the full resolution (8000×8000, its size is 70 MB!). It was again taken using the MVIC instrument during the July 14, 2015 flyby. The colors are enhanced and the result is a range that includes shades of pale blue, yellow, orange and red.
Many areas of Pluto’s surface have their own specific color showing a complex history in terms of geology and also climatology. Again, this dwarf planet revealed an unexpected complexity because every new detail that comes from the new images show it at a greater extent.
Scientists have just started understanding what’s going on Pluto. Because of the slowness of the transmissions from the New Horizons space probe, images and other data will keep on coming for more than one year. Put simply, we can expect many more interesting and spectacular data from this distant dwarf planet.
