New Horizons, Only 100 days from Pluto.

[DRT]

The next big press release is scheduled for 13:00 EST (so 18:00 in the UK) and will be broadcast live on NASA TV. New pictures will be released during the briefing

[Laurie61]

I thought we might get some tonight. Is there a schedule posted somewhere that tells us what to expect?

The next  NASA News Conference on the New Horizons Mission is on tomorrow ( Fri 17th) at 1 pm EDT, so 6 pm here. 

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html#.Vaf8CqS6dkg

DRT beat me to it 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Just my initial thoughts here:

From what we have seen so far, Charon seems to have had a lot of impacts from meteors etc (as our own Moon has), there also seems to be much plate techtonic activity having happened also. Pluto itself from what we have seen so far has far less impact craters visible and seems to be heavily scarred by plate techtonics.

What do you personally make of the images so far, regarding impacts,plate techtonics or volcanic activity?.

I am LOVING this. NASA has spent God knows how much on this mission and here we all are analysing a couple of images based on what we know (or think we know) about the formation of planets and moons.

This is what makes us unique as Humans and as a species. We are curious and inquisitive to no end.

[Stub Mandrel]

That's the 6-10km deep canyon - in the other shot you can see it as a 'notch' at 1-o'clock.

Just read some comments on Pluto & Charon by Patrick Moore from the 90s he discussed the 'planet status issuer and concluded "Pluto and Charon may just turn out to be Kuiper Belt objects". i suspect at the very least the word 'just' was misplaced!

[Laurie61]

WOW! That is a fantastic feature and a fantastic picture!

I am intrigued by the long back line at one o'clock. It looks like a massive canyon or a side view of a circular feature and I'm surprised it hasn't been discussed in any of the press releases.

Yes,  I thought this might be a circular feature seen from the side. So it might look like an island with moat around it ?  

[Laurie61]

Just my initial thoughts here:

From what we have seen so far, Charon seems to have had a lot of impacts from meteors etc (as our own Moon has), there also seems to be much plate techtonic activity having happened also. Pluto itself from what we have seen so far has far less impact craters visible and seems to be heavily scarred by plate techtonics.

What do you personally make of the images so far, regarding impacts,plate techtonics or volcanic activity?.

I am LOVING this. NASA has spent God knows how much on this mission and here we all are analysing a couple of images based on what we know (or think we know) about the formation of planets and moons.

This is what makes us unique as Humans and as a species. We are curious and inquisitive to no end.

There does seem to be a lot of surface modification going on, Its hard to believe its caused by internal heating which has been ongoing since the original formation ? I like the idea that an impact occurred between the two worlds much later in the Pluto system's history and it's the residual heat generated by this which is driving the changes.  

[DRT]

That's the 6-10km deep canyon - in the other shot you can see it as a 'notch' at 1-o'clock.

The canyon I have seen discussed runs across the middle of the disk of the Charon image. This feature is something else I think.

[DRT]

There does seem to be a lot of surface modification going on, Its hard to believe its caused by internal heating which has been ongoing since the original formation ? I like the idea that an impact occurred between the two worlds much later in the Pluto system's history and it's the residual heat generated by this which is driving the changes.  

Our Moon was formed (we think) as a result of an object impacting the early Earth and the ejected matter coalescing into what is now a dead lump of cratered rock.

Perhaps something similar happened to Pluto but much more recently than it did to Earth? That would perhaps explain the existence of Charon and it's mixture of tectonic and impacted features and the relatively "young" surface of Pluto. The tectonics might have now ended but the results not yet (and perhaps never will be) obliterated by impacts.

Or perhaps the farther away from the Sun you are the fewer impacts you have?

Or perhaps we just don't know

[Alien 13]

There does seem to be a lot of surface modification going on, Its hard to believe its caused by internal heating which has been ongoing since the original formation ? I like the idea that an impact occurred between the two worlds much later in the Pluto system's history and it's the residual heat generated by this which is driving the changes.  

I agree at some point they "kissed" each other probably another reason for the heart.

Alan

[Stub Mandrel]

The canyon I have seen discussed runs across the middle of the disk of the Charon image. This feature is something else I think.

I thought that initially but this blog suggests it is the notch at top right if I read it correctly.

[DRT]

I thought that initially but this blog suggests it is the notch at top right if I read it correctly.

Ah - having gone back and re-read some of the other articles that appears to be the case. Thanks for clearing up.

Only three hours to go before the next batch of pictures appear

[Macavity]

The "mountain in a moat" is really intriguing me! No real idea... but noted that the out-gassings

of Pluto are are apparently *considerably* greater than any modest layer of surface ice melt?

I understand, on Earth, whole continents, mountain ranges etc. SINK into underlying magma...

Maybe all this lost gas gives rise to voids beneath the surface? Mind where you walking?

[Dave Lloyd]

[quote name="Paul M" post="2703226" timestamp="1437038798"

I'm now mostly looking forward to seeing some of the "crescent" Pluto images. Maybe it's going to take a while to drip feed them back to us.

I was enchanted by the "phase" image when NH passed Jupiter.

[Stub Mandrel]

Bryan May flies in to take part in the clapathon :-)

Polygons - like on tundra - but huge.

Almost 3D flyovers

Was Pluto a small nitrogen gas-planet that's been deflating for 4.5 billion years?

[AllanJ]

Watching NASA TV :  great new images and data (why did the doorbell have to ring in the middle of it?).  Downloading compressed images for now, looks like they will be learning so much more over the coming months as the lossless data arrives.

[Laurie61]

A new close-up image of Pluto reveals a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains, in the center-left of the heart feature, informally named “Tombaugh Regio” 

This fascinating icy plains region -- resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth -- has been informally named “Sputnik Planum” (Sputnik Plain) after the Earth’s first artificial satellite. It has a broken surface of irregularly-shaped segments, roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) across, bordered by what appear to be shallow troughs. Some of these troughs have darker material within them, while others are traced by clumps of hills that appear to rise above the surrounding terrain. Elsewhere, the surface appears to be etched by fields of small pits that may have formed by a process called sublimation, in which ice turns directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does on Earth.

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/frozen-plains-in-the-heart-of-pluto-s-heart

[Laurie61]

Peering closely at the “heart of Pluto,” in the western half of what mission scientists have informally named Tombaugh Regio  (Tombaugh Region), New Horizons’ Ralph instrument revealed evidence of carbon monoxide ice.  The contours indicate that the concentration of frozen carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye.” These data were acquired by the spacecraft on July 14 and transmitted to Earth on July 16. 

[Laurie61]

Artist’s concept of the interaction of the solar wind (the supersonic outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun) with Pluto’s predominantly nitrogen atmosphere. Some of the molecules that form the atmosphere have enough energy to overcome Pluto’s weak gravity and escape into space, where they are ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation. As the solar wind encounters the obstacle formed by the ions, it is slowed and diverted (depicted in the red region), possibly forming a shock wave upstream of Pluto. The ions are “picked up” by the solar wind and carried in its flow past the dwarf planet to form an ion or plasma tail (blue region).

http://www.nasa.gov/nh/pluto-wags-its-tail

[Laurie61]

This simulated flyover of Pluto’s Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) and Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain) was created from New Horizons closest-approach images. Norgay Montes have been informally named for Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Sputnik Planum is informally named for Earth’s first artificial satellite. The images were acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. 

[DRT]

I watched the press conference earlier this evening and found these discoveries to be enthralling.

But it sounds like we are about to go into a bit of a news blackout for a few weeks to allow them to download some of the uncompressed pictures and scientific data. From about mid September there is to be a weekly broadcast to release the data and findings as they come in over the remaining months.

One warning that they did give was that these early images contain artifacts of the compression process so all might not be as it seems.

Exciting stuff

[LukeSkywatcher]

The latest image reminds me of sea ice here on Earth. 

[The Admiral]

The latest image reminds me of sea ice here on Earth. 

That's been my thinking as well.

Pancake ice at Davis. March 2003. Photo J. Smith from http://www.antarctica.gov.au

Now, how on earth (pluto!) could that be happening at those temperatures? We've a lot to discover.

Ian

[DRT]

Very interesting comparison, Ian.

Perhaps at certain points in time what we see as the heart is an ocean of liquid "something" that freezes when Pluto is at certain point in its orbit? That could explain the mountain tops (islands) protruding through some of the troughs, the polygonal shape of the frozen segments and the diffuse nature of the edge of the heart.

Hopefully one day soon we will know the answer.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Very interesting comparison, Ian.

Perhaps at certain points in time what we see as the heart is an ocean of liquid "something" that freezes when Pluto is at certain point in its orbit? That could explain the mountain tops (islands) protruding through some of the troughs, the polygonal shape of the frozen segments and the diffuse nature of the edge of the heart.

Hopefully one day soon we will know the answer.

Indeed. They may well be an ocean below the surface of Pluto which freezes and thaws at certain points of its orbit, or even maybe used to do so millions of years ago and the scars of that are visible today as in the latest image. All conjecture obviously. As for Charon and a couple of its features........i'm gonna have to agree that in some point in time either Pluto and Charon collided or another body slammed into Charon.

Very exiting time and we are only licking the tip of the iceberg with regards to images and trying to understand Pluto.  

Also another thought: 

The dark stuff in the troughs could well be liquid of some kind between the cracks in the ice............leading me to think that an ocean below the surface is a real possibility.

When i first saw the Heart of Pluto, my first thought was "Ice cap". Its seems to be that. Its weirs that it lies on the equator. Maybe we have it all wrong and Pluto is 90 degrees off axis and the heart of Pluto actually is located on either its northern or southern pole?. It would help if i (we) knew about any magnetic field on Pluto and how it works.

Its fun trying to make sense of the images. I think we (the lay people) are allowed to though because the features are not really anything we have not seen before somewhere within our solar system. 

[The Admiral]

Given that they are saying it is a very young surface, there must be some dynamic regeneration going on, which perhaps also points to some "mobile" material beneath the surface. Of course, we can speculate until the cows come home, or at least, until the full scientific data comes home! Even then, there'll still be some element of conjecture. I suppose also it is perhaps very risky extrapolating what we observe on earth to a totally different world; fun trying to second guess though .

Ian