After a journey of nine years and three billion miles, NASA’s unmanned New Horizons spacecraft reached the dwarf planet
Pluto for its long-awaited flyby.
Photo credit: The latest and most detailed image of Pluto, just before the flyby. NASA
Here are six Awesome facts that we should've learned about the dwarf planet this week:
1.
Pluto’s heart is not stable!Highly visible in the latest images, the Pluto's heart-shaped area is probably caused by frost, it is constantly changing. New Horizon's planetary scientist Bonnie Buratti said to Popular Science:
“We have been monitoring what we now know as the heart for 60 years, and it does look like that heart thing has been eroding away over time.”
2.
Pluto is bigger than we have thought!New Horizons is now recording more accurate measurements for Pluto. The latest and most accurate measurement sent back has Pluto with a diameter of 2,370 kilometers (about 1,473 miles), which is about the length of 56 marathons.
This measurement is about 70 kilometers (44 miles) more than what scientists previously estimated for Pluto’s middle. And this means Pluto is the largest object in our Solar System beyond Neptune’s orbit.
3.
Pluto’s craters could be named after Star Trek characters!Researchers may name some of these craters after characters from Star Trek. Craters on the surface of Pluto are likely signs of deep impact from smaller space rocks colliding with the planet.
4.
New Horizons detected nitrogen emissions from Pluto! As early as five days away from its closest approach, New Horizons detected nitrogen emissions from Pluto which is much earlier than researchers predicted.
Because New Horizons picked up these whiffy emanations from 6 million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away rather than the predicted 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 million miles), it suggests that the source of the gassy releases could be much stronger than estimated, the atmosphere of Pluto is much thinner than previously thought, or something else entirely. Fortunately, New Horizons should have collected sufficient data on its flyby to determine a definite reason.
5.
Pluto has its own Dark side!The last view of Pluto's dark spots as seen by New Horizons before the flyby. NASA
NASA have been noticed Dark spots on Pluto's surface. What’s strange about these irregularities is that they have similar size and spacing. Unfortunately, they had rotated out of view when New Horizons arrived, so we won't learn much more about them from this mission.
6.
Pluto's Ice Caps!There were theories that Pluto had ice caps but nothing was for certain – until now. The ice has been confirmed as frozen methane and nitrogen ice.
Pluto is more intriguing than ever! there is more to come because NASA is continuously studying this amazing Dwarf.
Source :
IFLScience
