new horizons

Just yesterday, NASA’s probe New Horizons passed by the furthest (dwarf) planet from the sun in our solar system. The images it captured are the best views of Pluto we’ve ever had. Here’s yesterdays groundbreaking photo:

nh-pluto-surface-scale

 

Cool, eh? Let’s put that photo into perspective though shall we? Here’s something we could all relate to:

Vancouver for scale

 

While impressive, this photo was taken with a resolution of just 0.4km/pixel. Higher resolution photos are on their way, and instead of the 0.4km/pixel ratio that this photo is, they will be at a staggering 70m/pixel!! All this from 12,600 kms above the planets surface. Space is so cool… Unfortunately, we won’t be getting these higher resolution photos for quite some time, and to explain why, here’s a direct quote from NASA:

 

“The average downlink rate after New Horizons passes Pluto (and sends the bulk of its encounter data back to Earth) is approximately 2,000 bits per second, a rate the spacecraft achieves by downlinking with both of its transmitters through NASA’s largest antennas. Even then, it will take until late 2016 to bring down all the encounter data stored on the spacecraft’s recorders.”

 

While we wait for those photos, NASA’s scientists are already examining the ones we have and have figured out a lot. Here’s just a quick sample of the info they now have:

  • Pluto is 2,369kms in diameter.
  • There are ice mountains that are 11,000 meters high
  • Those ice mountains are younger than the Himilayan mountain range
  • The lack of craters in this particular area indicates that it is less than 100 million years old. In other words, Pluto’s surface is still active!

 

The photo is only of a small portion of the planet, as you can see here:

section of pluto

We’ll make sure to keep you updated as we get more photos! In the mean time, you can follow the New Horizons probe on twitter for instant updates.