Pluto’s Majestic Mountains, Frozen Plains and Foggy
Hazes: Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14,
2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and
captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice
plains extending to Pluto’s horizon. The smooth expanse of the
informally named icy plain Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west
(left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high,
including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and
Hillary Montes on the skyline. To the right, east of Sputnik, rougher
terrain is cut by apparent glaciers. The backlighting highlights over a
dozen layers of haze in Pluto’s tenuous but distended atmosphere. The
image was taken from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) to
Pluto; the scene is 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) wide.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Closer Look: Majestic Mountains and Frozen Plains:
Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015,
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured
this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains
extending to Pluto’s horizon. The smooth expanse of the informally named
Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged
mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high, including the
informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on
the skyline. The backlighting highlights more than a dozen layers of
haze in Pluto’s tenuous but distended atmosphere. The image was taken
from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) to Pluto; the scene
is 230 miles (380 kilometers) across.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
Near-Surface Haze or Fog on Pluto: In this small
section of the larger crescent image of Pluto, taken by NASA’s New
Horizons just 15 minutes after the spacecraft’s closest approach on July
14, 2015, the setting sun illuminates a fog or near-surface haze, which
is cut by the parallel shadows of many local hills and small mountains.
The image was taken from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000
kilometers), and the width of the image is 115 miles (185 kilometers).
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
"In addition to being visually stunning, these low-lying hazes hint at the weather changing from day to day on Pluto, just like it does here on Earth," said Will Grundy, lead of the New Horizons Composition team from Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Combined with other recently downloaded pictures, this new image also provides evidence for a remarkably Earth-like “hydrological” cycle on Pluto – but involving soft and exotic ices, including nitrogen, rather than water ice.
Pluto’s ‘Heart’: Sputnik Planum is the informal
name of the smooth, light-bulb shaped region on the left of this
composite of several New Horizons images of Pluto. The brilliantly white
upland region to the right may be coated by nitrogen ice that has been
transported through the atmosphere from the surface of Sputnik Planum,
and deposited on these uplands. The box shows the location of the
glacier detail images below.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Valley Glaciers on Pluto: Ice (probably frozen
nitrogen) that appears to have accumulated on the uplands on the right
side of this 390-mile (630-kilometer) wide image is draining from
Pluto’s mountains onto the informally named Sputnik Planum through the
2- to 5-mile (3- to 8- kilometer) wide valleys indicated by the red
arrows. The flow front of the ice moving into Sputnik Planum is outlined
by the blue arrows. The origin of the ridges and pits on the right side
of the image remains uncertain.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
“Pluto is surprisingly Earth-like in this regard,” added Stern, “and no one predicted it.”
Intricate Valley Glaciers on Pluto: This image
covers the same region as the image above, but is re-projected from the
oblique, backlit view shown in the new crescent image of Pluto. The
backlighting highlights the intricate flow lines on the glaciers. The
flow front of the ice moving into the informally named Sputnik Planum is
outlined by the blue arrows. The origin of the ridges and pits on the
right side of the image remains uncertain. This image is 390 miles (630
kilometers) across.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Last Updated: Sep. 17, 2015
Editor: Tricia Talbert