Finally, some new images from New Horizons!
This shot of Pluto's atmosphere is stunning!
The closeup of the mountains is amazing as well. However...
The feature I found most remarkable is a potentially active nitrogen glacier! The ices may have evaporated from the surface and fallen into the mountains, re-compressed into solid ice again and flowed back onto the plain; a cycle nearly identical to water ice (snow) on Earth falling in the mountains, being compressed into ice and flowing downward in the form of a glacier.
Apologies for the first photos getting cut off on the top of the page but I wanted to post them as large as possible. The the full story and complete set of photos may be viewed the NASA link below:
Pluto - Backlit Panorama and Glacial Flows
No comments:
Post a Comment