Like I said earlier, the New Horizons spacecraft is continuously transmitting data back to the Earth. Recently, many new images of the dwarf planet and it’s moons have been acquired. They depict the surface of the dwarf planet in exquisite detail. Apart from pictures of Pluto, Charon’s surface has also been photographed and shows dissimilarity to the surface of Pluto.
An interesting fact to end the post with. The Pluto-Charon system is a unique one in the Solar System. Many consider it a binary system rather than a dwarf planet-moon system. This is because, Charon is only 1/7th the mass of Pluto and only 1/2 it’s diameter. Because of this, the center of mass between Pluto and Charon actually lies above Pluto’s surface!
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| Craters on the surface of Pluto |
There are regions on the surface of Pluto which show bombardment and appear considerably old. However, Pluto is far from a sterile, inactive body. Other images show considerable geological diversity on the surface of Pluto and there are some areas which appear very young. Nitrogen, which is found as a gas on the Earth, is found as ice on it’s surface.
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| Relatively younger portion of Pluto’s surface |
The moons of Pluto were also photographed. This is the family portrait of Pluto’s moons assembled from the pictures taken by New Horizons.
An interesting fact to end the post with. The Pluto-Charon system is a unique one in the Solar System. Many consider it a binary system rather than a dwarf planet-moon system. This is because, Charon is only 1/7th the mass of Pluto and only 1/2 it’s diameter. Because of this, the center of mass between Pluto and Charon actually lies above Pluto’s surface!
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