For example, the bright fringe we see on Pluto may represent frost deposited from an evaporating polar cap, which is now in summer sun. The next time we see this part of Pluto at closest approach, a portion of this region will be imaged at about 500 times better resolution than we see today. It will be incredible!” As science team co-investigator and imaging lead Jeff Moore, of NASA Ames Research Center, explains, “The unambiguous detection of bright and dark terrain units on both Pluto and Charon indicates a wide range of diverse landscapes across the pair. What the team has found so far is exciting, and they are enthusiastically anticipating what they might discover next week. The area around you would be dim, but not so dark that you would bump into things.
At your feet, the icy surface - resembling a sooty snow bank - would be bathed in Charon’s faint glow.
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Charon, although three billion miles from the sun, is so close to Pluto and so ice-covered that it would be only five times dimmer than the full moon seen from Earth. If you stood on the night region of Pluto at that moment of closest approach by New Horizons - looking up at a distinctly gray Charon - it would appear seven times larger in the sky than Earth’s moon. Scientists are guessing that the luminous, heart-shaped area of 1,200 miles across, consists of fresh deposits of frozen methane, nitrogen and possibly carbon monoxide, while to the right of the the “whale” - a dark region measuring 1,860 miles wide - is a bright, “donut”-shaped area of 200 miles in size that could be a crater or some other kind of geological feature like a volcano. The true nature of these features is not totally clear yet, but researchers are hoping to get a more detailed analysis next week when the probe does a flyby scheduled for July 14, where it will pass by the planet again to observe sunlight passing through its atmosphere. The dark region informally known as the “whale” to the left of this map of Pluto’s surface.
In the past week the probe has edged in closer - at around five million miles - revealing some never-before-seen features of the mysterious dwarf planet, showing a variety of dark and bright areas which NASA scientists are dubbing “ the whale,” “the donut,” and more endearingly, “ the heart.” The images sent back from New Horizons culminate a nearly decade-long wait and a three-billion-mile long journey. It’s a computer flying through space, backing up data, making room for the new data it collects and keeping scientists on edge when it has to go into safe mode like it did earlier this month.
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Our fascination with space does have some corollary to these new stack worlds technologists are finding, as they further develop software that can process the data from outer space. The New Horizons is testament to that journey, but in another dimension. The only source of natural light is starlight and moonlight from Pluto’s largest moon, Charon.
The sun has not been visible for twenty years in this frigid south polar region it will not shine again for another 80 years. Here’s their wonderful description of what’s to come:
On Tuesday, NASA’s New Horizons will get the first pictures of the night region of Pluto.
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