Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Friday May 01 2015, @04:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the ice-on-pluto?! dept.

NASA's New Horizons probe has returned images of Pluto that hint at the presence of polar ice caps:

The images were captured in early to mid-April from within 70 million miles (113 million kilometers), using the telescopic Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera on New Horizons. A technique called image deconvolution sharpens the raw, unprocessed images beamed back to Earth. New Horizons scientists interpreted the data to reveal the dwarf planet has broad surface markings - some bright, some dark - including a bright area at one pole that may be a polar cap.

"As we approach the Pluto system we are starting to see intriguing features such as a bright region near Pluto's visible pole, starting the great scientific adventure to understand this enigmatic celestial object," says John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "As we get closer, the excitement is building in our quest to unravel the mysteries of Pluto using data from New Horizons."

Since it was discovered in 1930, Pluto has remained an enigma. It orbits our sun more than 3 billion miles (about 5 billion kilometers) from Earth, and researchers have struggled to discern any details about its surface. These latest New Horizons images allow the mission science team to detect clear differences in brightness across Pluto's surface as it rotates.

Would you still call it a polar ice cap if the whole planet is ice?

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @07:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @07:00PM (#177565)

    Oh, so just because its small, you don't think its good enough? Well let me tell you, Miss Size Queen, size isn't the only thing that matters! There are a lot more important factors involved than just how big it is! It doesn't have to be big to be impressive and super-effective!