The images were captured by New Horizons last year. Image Credit: NASA
The fascinating pictures are the most detailed views of Pluto we are going to get for a very long time.
Released both as a high-res still and in the form of a video, the new images form a mosaic spanning part of the hemisphere of Pluto that the New Horizons spacecraft flew over back on July 14, 2015.
Many of the shots included in the reveal have never been seen before and offer a remarkably detailed look at Pluto's distinct landscapes ranging from cratered uplands and cellular plains to chaotic, angular mountains and 'pitted' areas of sublimating nitrogen ice.
"The mosaic affords New Horizons scientists and the public the best opportunity to examine the fine details of the various types of terrain on Pluto, and determine the processes that formed and shaped them," NASA wrote in a press release on its website.
The full, high-resolution mosaic can be viewed in all its glory - here.
Pluto has an amazing variety of surface features. As we all know, Pluto was relegated from being a planet to a dwarf planet, and under the current system there will be no return to its former status. However, I suggest a new category be introduced to describe Pluto - A Special Dwarf Planet. I say this because Pluto is in the same category as, for instance, Ceres, but is a far more interesting place. It somehow seems appropriate that having been relegated in status by mere humans, Pluto - a god known for his defiance - turns out to be one of the most spectacular places in the Solar System.... [More]
That is because the current system makes sense. That is based on an unbelievably arbitrary and unscientific test, namely whether you find it interesting, see below. And your point is? Earth is in the same category as both Mercury and Jupiter, yet the three world couldn't be more different. Based on what criteria? You weren't one of those fascinated by Ceres' bight spots? There are many planetary scientists that will make their career studying Ceres as it represents a clue into the formation of the inner solar system and therefore the Earth, that, to me, makes it a hugely interesting p... [More]
I had hoped my reference to the god Pluto would have set the lighthearted and unscientific tone of my posting. I obviously failed to do that. However, is what I have said so irrational? If there is more going on geologically with Pluto than with Ceres, does that not make Pluto a more scientifically interesting place? I did find the bright spot on Ceres interesting, but I find the very varied topography of Pluto far more interesting. To me that makes it more special than Ceres. In a similar way I find nucleons more interesting than electrons, because they contain quarks and electrons do no... [More]
Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend or start a debate. When I said “full photo shots of our own moon with this same quality?” I meant recent photos of quadrants that are untouched before being released to the public. As a person who held a secret military clearance, studying our closest astrological body, I just wanted to point out that there are areas of our moon blocked from view just as areas of the earth are blocked from view.
I just want to point out that I am not going to take seriously the word of someone that doesn't know the difference between "astronomical" and "astrological".
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