NASA New Horizons spacecraft finds haze, flowing ice on Pluto

A recent analysis of the images reveals two different layers of haze. It captured the sunlight shining through the tiny planet’s atmosphere, revealing a haze that rested as high as 130 km above the surface.

“Pluto has a very complicated story to tell”, added the mission’s lead scientist, Alan Stern, with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Modelling data suggests the white haze forms as ultraviolet sunlight breaks up methane gas particles.

New Horizons also delivered surprises about Pluto’s atmosphere, and confirmed that if Charon has one, it is exceedingly tenuous.

According to Michael Summers, who is the New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason, this haze likely generates hydrocarbon compounds that are responsible for Pluto’s red color.

The image below highlights this reddish tint.

It was exactly seven hours after the probe made its closest fly by when the probe started taking pictures using its Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). There, a sheet of ice clearly appears to have flowed – and may still be flowing – in a manner similar to glaciers on Earth. And, they could still be flowing today.

“With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling”, said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. But nitrogen ice will melt at much colder temperature, -346 degrees F, which means it could go from a solid to a liquid on Pluto during warmer seasons.

At Pluto temperatures, water ice is much too stiff and brittle to flow.

“This terrain is not easy to explain”, Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) said in a statement.

In addition to gathering incredible science, one of my hopes for the flyby was that we’d excite people about the power of exploration, the sheer audacity of our species, and the great things we can achieve.

At the same time, close-ups of the dark equatorial region reveal a crater-pocked landscape within a portion of the region the team has dubbed Cthulhu Regio. See how it’s been filled in by ice. The historic encounter that brought the spacecraft within 7,800 miles of Pluto successfully ended the three billion mile journey that began nearly a decade ago. Ten days after the bordering approach of the New Horizons, scientists can now claim that their expedition has surpassed their expectations.

“When we did Futures: 50 Years in Space in 2004 I did my first digital version, recently I even updated that to show possible cryovolcanic activity – such as geysers”. He and other Pluto Pals were fortunate enough to witness the flyby real-time, with the New Horizons team.