New color images of Pluto from NASA



    Photos of Pluto in color , obtained by the New Horizons interplanetary station, show us the appearance of a planetoid with the maximum approximation at the moment. So, the size of dark spots is about 480 km in diameter (as they say on the NASA website). So far, scientists have not seen anything like dark spots on the surface of a planetoid. Interest in them increases with the approach of the apparatus to Pluto.

    The origin of these dark areas also remains a mystery. Perhaps the answer will be received with the further rapprochement of New Horizons with Pluto. “This is a real mystery - we don’t know what the spots are, and we can’t wait to find out,” commented Alan Stern, a leading specialist on the project.

    Color images were obtained as follows: the project team combined the latest black and white images of Pluto and Charon with low-resolution color images obtained with the Ralph tool. According to experts, now we see the planet and its satellite in almost natural color.



    Now they are preparing probe tools that can help in studying the atmosphere of a dwarf planet. If Pluto has clouds (well, what if), New Horizons will be able to detect them. In addition, the planet will be studied using the tools LORRI and Ralph (color camera), which will have to see the surface of the planet, looking through the clouds. “We will get cloud images using a number of methods. If we find clouds, then we can calculate the speed and direction of the winds on Pluto, ”says Kelsey Singer, a project participant.



    Since April, the deconvolution method (a way to process images in a graphic editor) has allowed scientists to identify a wide range of objects on the surface of Pluto, including a bright area at one of the poles, which is already baptized with a “polar cap”. According to experts studying Pluto, the surface of the planet is very different in structure, with a large number of areas differing from each other (at least the brightness in the picture). Previously, some scientists believed that Pluto is a relatively homogeneous body, but it is now clear that this is not so.

    If someone is interested in other images of Pluto, then the gallery of raw photos of Pluto is here .

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