Last Look at Plutos Charon Side
Explanation:
Pluto surface is strange.
As the robotic
New Horizons
barrels toward its closest approach to Pluto and its moons tomorrow,
images already coming back show Pluto's surface to be
curiouser and curiouser.
The
featured image, taken two days ago, shows the side of Pluto that always faces
Pluto's largest moon
Charon.
Particularly noteworthy is the
dark belt near the bottom that circles Pluto's equator.
It is currently unclear whether regions in this dark belt are mountainous or flat,
why boundaries are so sharply defined, and why the light regions seem to be nearly
evenly spaced.
As New Horizons will be
flying past the other side of Pluto, this should be the best image of this distant
landscape that humanity sees for a long time.
Assuming the robotic spacecraft operates as hoped, images taken of the other side
of
Pluto, taken near closest approach, will be about 300 times more detailed.
Latest:
Best image yet of Charon.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
