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NASA's New Horizons Returns Images of the Canyons of Pluto's North Pole (examiner.com)

Posted by timothy on from the santa's-summer-place dept.

MarkWhittington writes: NASA's New Horizon space probe, which flew by Pluto last July, continues to send data and images that amaze and awe. The space agency released an image of Pluto's North Pole taken by the probe's Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The image shows, as has previous images of other regions of the so-called dwarf planet, that Pluto is a diverse world with an active geology. The North Pole of Pluto is characterized by long canyons that are covered in yellow methane ice. The canyons show how the dwarf planet had, and perhaps still has active tectonics..

5 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Neat! by CaptainLard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    To break up the usual parade of strained jokes on science articles, how bout posting your favorite cool new thing that we learned from New Horizons? To start...

    Pluto has a large mass of frozen nitrogen on its surface that supports many "hills". These may be composed of water ice (less dense than N ice) that float on the slowly shifting nitrogen ice "sea" like an iceberg!

    1. Re:Neat! by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My favorite thing is that Pluto is so cold, that it has water ice "rocks" that are harder than rocks on Earth. Just when we think we've figured out everything, we find something else in the Universe that completely blows away our expectations (in the best possible way).

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:Neat! by jIyajbe · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Agreed! Also, volcanoes on Charon that erupt with water-based lavas! https://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-big-moon-charon-reveals-a-colorful-and-violent-history/

      --
      "Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
    3. Re:Neat! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Interesting

      " your favorite cool new thing that we learned from New Horizons? "

      My vote goes to the finding of active tectonics. This implies heat, which is coming from...where?

  2. Meteors by jIyajbe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was surprised at the number of (what appear to be) meteor craters; I knew that Pluto is in the Kuiper belt, but I always had the impression that the density of that belt was really low. OTOH, Pluto has been wandering around that region for billions of years, so I guess that adds up over time. Very cool!!

    Plaudits to the New Horizons team! Yay science!

    --
    "Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin