Mission New Horizons, Pluto up close

There are also 3,500 metres of mountains. They believe it may be made up of water ice. Although on the surface of Pluto there is a lot of methane and nitrogen ice, these are not as strong as to form mountains. Water ice at the temperature of Pluto is like a stone. It is estimated that the mountains do not exceed one hundred million years. “It’s one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the Solar System,” said Jeff Moore, a member of the Geology, Geophysics and Image Group of the New Horizons mission.

The presence of these characteristics on the surface of Pluto is a geological action. “For this the interior has to be quite hot,” says Arregi, “and we don’t know what that heat source is. Being a small body cannot be influenced by gravity. Perhaps the source is radioactivity, it is not clean.” However, being such a small body, it is curious. “It is less than the Moon and in it there is no geological activity or any other. In Pluto there is something. It’s amazing.”

Karon has a dark pole. In the center you can see cliffs and depressions. And on the lower and right edge some craters and a giant cannon, longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Ed. : The SWRI.

New Horizons has also sent an image of the small moons Nix (above) and Hydra (below). Estix and Zerberorena will send them later. Ed. : The SWRI.

And it seems that Pluto's biggest moon, Karon, also has geological activity. The researchers have been surprised because there are very few craters and those that there seem very young. And there are a couple of giant cannons, the largest is longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona. “These are surprising issues, as they are small bodies and are mostly composed of light elements. But, perhaps, we also had prejudices. We imagined something frozen, everything cold, everything slow and without big changes. But nature often surprises us.”

As for the composition, there have not been many surprises. “At the moment no special issue has been seen, what was expected has been found. But the atmosphere is remarkable, because it is greater than was thought,” said Arregi.

Astronomers have detected that in the Tombaugh region the ice moves. They are believed to be nitrogen glaciers. In addition to nitrogen ice, the New Horizons LEISA spectrometer has detected the abundance of carbon monoxide and methane ice in this region. The left lobe area of the “heart” has been called Sputnik Plain. To the south of the Tombaugh region are the Norgay and Hillary mountains. The higher ones are about 3,500 meters and are believed to be formed by water ice. Ed. : NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/Herobrine.

Seven hours after passing through Pluto, two million kilometers away, New Horizons took this image out. Sunlight is reflected by Pluto's atmospheric particles. Astronomers knew that Pluto had an atmosphere, but thanks to this image they could see it. And they have clarified that it is much greater than they expected: It has about 160 kilometers, five times more than expected, and has also been structured in layers. Ed. : The SWRI.

In the hours near Pluto, New Horizons received a lot of information. And all this will take about 16 months to get to Earth. “Then the study phase will come, which will also take a few years,” explains Arregi. “However, if there is something surprising or curious, we will soon know.”

“From a technological point of view, the importance of mission is enormous,” says Arregi. But he also stressed the importance of “everything that contributes to knowing our solar system. And know also what related to metaphysics, our origin. Seeing these things gives an overview that can even change the human mentality. I think opening new paths always makes society’s mentality more open.” On the other hand, “be so successful, get there well, and send images like this, etc. This will surely give strength to this field of science. And that is also important.”

Looking ahead, the objectives are yet to be realized, but the intention is to analyze some other body of the Kuiper belt. “That will also be very interesting,” says Arregi, “because that will also change the current image of these bodies.”

Journey of nine and a half years

New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006 from Cape Canaveral (Florida) with the maximum escape speed achieved: 16 km/s (58,536 km/h). In 2007 it passed by Jupiter and with its gravity increases the speed by 4 km/s. Thus, New Horizons has taken three years less to reach Pluto than at initial speed. To save energy, in the same year 2007 it was introduced in the fire pit until 2014.

Ed. Information

On 14 July 2015, at 13:49, the probe arrived closer to Pluto, 12,500 kilometers. Later, at 14:04 he passed near Karon, although he stayed much farther than in Pluto, at 29,000 kilometers. The tour was then designed to pass through the shadow of Pluto and Karón. In this way he could study his atmospheres. During this time the mission members had no knowledge of the probe. He called his house at 2:53 to tell him that everything went well.