New photos of Pluto: New Horizons continues to transmit data

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NASA has just posted a series of new photos of Pluto, which clearly show the surface structure of the planetoid. In addition, various objects on the surface of the dwarf planet are clearly visible. Earlier it was reported that now the probe has begun to actively transmit data collected earlier.

The New Horizons interplanetary space station began transmitting all the data accumulated in recent months to Earth. The system’s digital media now contains several gigabytes of data, which is not so easy to transfer to an object as remote as New Earth. However, on Saturday, September 5, scientists began to receive information, and it took about a year to fully download all these digital treasures.


Rough Terrace in the Northwest of Sputnik Planum

Previously, scientists had already studied photographs of the surface of Pluto, and came to the conclusion that the planetoid is not a dead, frozen world. There are relatively young mountains of ice. There are places where glaciers move (although all this, of course, is very different from the corresponding objects and phenomena on Earth). The ice on the surface of Pluto is moving. Such a movement was seen in the region in the shape of a heart. The composition of the ice is nitrogen, methane, CO, the main components of glaciers on Pluto.


Scientists cannot yet come to a single conclusion about what these mysterious black “fields” are. Perhaps these are dunes, and in this case there is wind on Pluto

The existence of moving glaciers makes Pluto look like active worlds like Earth or Mars. In addition, scientists have received evidence of the existence of complex organic compounds on Pluto. These are acetylene, ethylene and other substances. New Horizons has already detected traces of the presence of these compounds. It is also interesting that dark ice (mountains) is much older than light areas, and has billions of years. Scientists compare the movement of ice on Pluto with the vertical movement of glaciers on Earth - the behavior of ice is very similar, despite the fact that on Earth ice is frozen water, and on Pluto - frozen gases.



In addition, it became clear that Pluto has an atmosphere. Thin and almost transparent, but still there. Scientists believe that if a person were on the surface of Pluto and looked up, then no atmosphere, most likely, he would not have seen. The atmosphere of Pluto is represented by the subtlest haze, which, however, was recorded by the probe. Despite its ephemerality, the atmosphere is divided into layers, which are also clearly visible, especially at an altitude of 50 and 80 km above the surface of a dwarf planet.


The atmosphere of Pluto. The picture was taken from the back of the planetoid.