NASA video soars over Pluto’s majestic mountains and icy plains


In July 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft sent home the first close-up pictures of Pluto and its moons – amazing imagery that inspired many to wonder what a flight over the distant worlds’ icy terrain might be like.

NASA video soars over Pluto’s majestic mountains and icy plains

Wonder no more. Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, mission scientists have created flyover movies that offer spectacular new perspectives of the many unusual features that were discovered and which have reshaped our views of the Pluto system – from a vantage point even closer than the spacecraft itself.

Pluto flyover [Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Paul Schenk and John Blackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute]

This dramatic Pluto flyover begins over the highlands to the southwest of the great expanse of nitrogen ice plain informally named Sputnik Planitia. The viewer first passes over the western margin of Sputnik, where it borders the dark, cratered terrain of Cthulhu Macula, with the blocky mountain ranges located within the plains seen on the right. The tour moves north past the rugged and fractured highlands of Voyager Terra and then turns southward over Pioneer Terra -- which exhibits deep and wide pits -- before concluding over the bladed terrain of Tartarus Dorsa in the far east of the encounter hemisphere.

Charon flyover [Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Paul Schenk and John Blackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute]

The equally exciting flight over Charon begins high over the hemisphere New Horizons saw on its closest approach, then descends over the deep, wide canyon of Serenity Chasma. The view moves north, passing over Dorothy Gale crater and the dark polar hood of Mordor Macula. The flight then turns south, covering the northern terrain of Oz Terra before ending over the relatively flat equatorial plains of Vulcan Planum and the “moated mountains” of Clarke Montes.

The topographic relief is exaggerated by a factor of two to three times in these movies to emphasize topography; the surface colors of Pluto and Charon also have been enhanced to bring out detail.

Digital mapping and rendering were performed by Paul Schenk and John Blackwell of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. All feature names in the Pluto system are informal.

Source: NASA [July 14, 2017]

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ötzi and Tuscany: long-distance connections in the Copper Age

Image
The copper from Ötzi’s axe comes from Southern Tuscany. In September 2016, Professor Gilberto Artioli from the University of Padua had already announced this when presenting his first research findings on the occasion of the Bolzano Mummy Congress which had been jointly organised by the Eurac Institute for Mummies and the Iceman and the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology to commemorate the 25th anniversary of finding Ötzi’s remains. The copper axe of the Iceman [Credit: © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology] Finding out about the origin of the copper was a complete surprise, as up till now archaeologists had assumed that the copper used in the Alpine region came from Alpine deposits or the Balkan region. What has not yet been ascertained is whether the Iceman acquired the copper from Tuscany as raw material or as a ready-made blade. Artioli’s publication furthermore establishes links to coeval metallurgical activity in Tuscany. Future research projects aim to retrace trading routes
Read more

New excavation season starts in ancient Sagalassos

Image
Excavation and restoration work has resumed in the ancient city of Sagalassos in southwestern Turkey. Monumental centre of Sagalassos: The urban quarter of Upper Agora  [Credit: Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism ] A team of 90 people from different countries will work in the excavation area this year and the works will continue for the next three months. A team of five experts from the city’s Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) will give academic and technological support to the excavation. The head of the excavation team, Professor Jereon Poblome, said the most excavation would be done in the ancient agora area. “Our biggest excavation will take place in the eastern part of the upper agora, as the oldest building of Sagalassos was found there two years ago. As far as we have learned, there was a trade building in this area. This building was constructed in the second century B.C. and is the oldest official building of Sagalassos. Here is a rich place and our building is standing
Read more

Ptolemaic buildings and bridge unearthed in Alexandria, Egypt

Image
The Hellenic Institute for the Research of Alexandrian Culture (H.R.I.A.C), directed by archaeologist Kalliopi Papakostas, has discovered ancient buildings and a bridge in the Shalallat Gardens area in Alexandria, Egypt. The Ptolemaic public building, where the carved tunnel has been discovered, was located in 2015  [Credit: ANA/MNA] According to the Athens Macedonia News Agency, excavations in the area have been ongoing for 21 years and archaeologists have now unearthed a long carved tunnel at a depth of 10 metres that sheds new light on the large public building from the Ptolemaic period that was found in 2015. The Ptolemaic public building, where the carved tunnel has been discovered,  was located in 2015 [Credit: ANA/MNA] Though its boundaries have yet to be revealed the building, which is thought to have had an arched ceiling, is of massive proportions. Excavation in the Shallalat Gardens in Alexandria, Egypt   [Credit: ANA/MNA] “This is a very significant discovery, because i
Read more