Explanation:
What would it look like to fly past Pluto?
The robotic
New
Horizons spacecraft
did just this in late July and continues to return stunning pictures of the
dwarf
planet.
Some well-chosen flyby images have now been digitally sequenced to create the
featured video.
The
animation begins by showing New Horizon's approach to the
Pluto system, with Pluto and its largest moon
Charon orbiting a common center of mass.
As the spacecraft bears down on
Pluto uniquely, surprising surface features are
nearly resolved that, unfortunately, quickly rotate out
of view.
New Horizons then passes just above and near a large,
fascinating, light-colored,
heart-shaped, and unusually smooth region now known as Tombaugh
Regio.
The spacecraft then pivots to look back at Pluto's night side, seeing an encompassing
atmospheric haze.
Finally, Pluto
fades away in a final sequence illustrated with the orbits of many of Pluto's smaller
moons.
Although
humanity has no current plans to return to Pluto,
the New Horizons spacecraft may well be
directed next to fly past an asteroid currently known only as
2014 MU69.
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.
