This afternoon, NASA shared the first of many new views of Pluto to come. Captured yesterday as the New Horizon’s flew through the Pluto system (Pluto, Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra), these images are AH-MAZING.
Just before the flyby, New Horizon’s sent back this image of Pluto:
During the flyby the spacecraft was able to resolve surface features like this (near the bottom left of the heart shaped area):
These are MOUNTAINS. ON PLUTO. They are estimated to be over 11,000 feet high, made of ice, and they are blowing planetary geologists’ minds.
And if that wasn’t enough, here’s what Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, looks like up close:
It has a surprising lack of craters (hinting that its surface is newer than we thought) and there is a canyon slicing across the edge of the moon in the upper right that could be 4 to 6 miles deep. If these pics don’t make you go WOW, I don’t even want to know you. @Summer_Ash, In-house Astrophysicist
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