Images taken both of the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon during New Horizons’ recent flyby of the system near the edge of the solar system have been combined to offer a sneak-peak at a day-in-the-life of both objects, NASA officials announced on Friday.
According to CNET and Astronomy Magazine, the pictures were taken on the US space agency spacecraft’s approach this past summer and were captured from distances ranging from 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) and 400,000 miles (645,000 kilometers). Once combined, they show Pluto and Charon each completing a full rotation—a process that takes 6.4 Earth days.
The images were taken using New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera between July 7 and July 14. Fuzzier images that were taken from a greater distance show the heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio, and those showing the greatest detail depict what NASA’s mission team refers to as the “encounter hemisphere”.
Like Pluto, Charon was photographed from a variety of distances, but since it lacks the dramatic surface features of its planet, it is more difficult to differentiate between what is being featured in each image. However, as CNET pointed out, close examination reveals variations some light and dark areas, as well as canyons that rotate out of view as the moon’s day progresses.
Time lapse images just some of the data provided by New Horizons
In addition to the pictures used to create the time lapse photos, New Horizons also beamed back images last week that will be used to improve makes of other regions, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday. One of those pictures showed more details of the prominent dark spot known as Krum Macula, while another highlighted the color differences of Pluto’s different areas.
Data obtained by the spacecraft has found what may be giant ice volcanoes on the South Pole of the dwarf planet’s surface, including one (Wright Mons) thought to be between 1.8 and 3.1 miles (3.0 to 5.0 kilometers) high and another (Piccard Mons) up to 3.5 miles (6 kilometers) high. Both of these structures have deep depressions and may have been active relatively recently.
New Horizons is currently en route to a tiny Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69. This 30 mile wide object was selected as the probe’s next target in object, and while it is believed to be up to 10 times larger than the average comet, it is just one percent the size of Pluto. New Horizons will arrive at MU69 sometime in 2019, according to media reports.
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Feature Image: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
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