In the northern region of Pluto’s Sputnik Planum, swirl-shaped patterns of light and dark suggest that a surface layer of exotic ices has flowed around obstacles and into depressions, much like glaciers on Earth. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
NASA’s New Horizons mission has found evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto’s surface, at the left edge of its bright heart-shaped area. New close-up images from the spacecraft’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) reveal signs of recent geologic activity, something scientists hoped to find but didn’t expect. “We’ve only seen surfaces like this on active worlds like Earth and Mars,” said mission co-investigator John Spencer of SwRI.
The new close-up images show fascinating detail within the Texas-sized plain (Sputnik Planum) within the W half of Pluto’s heart-shaped region, ie Tombaugh Regio. There, a sheet of ice clearly appears to have flowed—and may still be flowing, similar to glaciers.
4 images from New Horizons’ LORRI were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view of Pluto. The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers), 2x the res of the single-image view taken on July 13. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
>>Meanwhile, New Horizons scientists used enhanced color images to detect differences in composition and texture of Pluto’s surface. When close-up images are combined with color data from Ralph instrument, they paint a new portrait of Pluto in which a global pattern of zones vary by latitude. The darkest terrains appear at the equator, mid-tones are the norm at mid-latitudes, and a brighter icy expanse dominates the north polar region. The New Horizons science team is interpreting this pattern to be the result of seasonal transport of ices from equator to pole.
This pattern is dramatically interrupted by the bright “beating heart” of Pluto.
>>The “heart of the heart,” Sputnik Planum, is suggestive of a reservoir of ices. The 2 bluish-white “lobes” that extend to the SW and NW of the “heart” may represent exotic ices being transported away from Sputnik Planum, the center of which is rich in nitrogen, CO2, and methane ices. “At Pluto’s temperatures of -390F, these ices can flow like a glacier”. In the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain (informally named “Cthulhu Regio”) has been invaded by much newer icy deposits.
This annotated image of the southern region of Sputnik Planum illustrates its complexity, including the polygonal shapes of Pluto’s icy plains, its two mountain ranges, and a region where it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain has been invaded by much newer icy deposits. The large crater highlighted in the image is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) wide, approximately the size of the greater Washington, DC area. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
>>The newly-discovered range of mountains (Hillary Montes) rises 1 mile above the surrounding plains, similar to the height of the US Appalachian Mountains. They are named after Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-discovers-flowing-ices-on-pluto
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