Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The final frontier

"A giant surprise": New photos reveal previously unseen mountains on Pluto

WOAH.

nh-pluto-surface-scale NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI

NASA IS TODAY releasing stunning images of Pluto, revealing never-before-seen features on the dwarf planet.

The New Horizons space probe captured one close-up photo of a region on Pluto’s equator, while passing just 478,000 miles away yesterday.

It shows what NASA called a “giant surprise” – a relatively young mountain range rising up to 11,000 feet (3,500 metres) above the surface.

Jeff Moore, from New Horizons, said:

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago — mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system — and may still be in the process of building.
This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system.

A short video posted by NASA on Twitter gives some context as to the scale of yesterday’s discovery:

Furthermore, the probe’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) has captured “remarkable” photos of Charon, Pluto’s largest moon.

nh-charon NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI

Some geological features on the satellite are also thought to be surprisingly young, and the photo shows previously unseen detail of a dark region in the north of Charon, nicknamed “Mordor.”

The New Horizons interplanetary probe has travelled more than three billion miles, over more than nine and a half years, in order to reach the Pluto system.

Read: Take a look at Pluto as you’ve never seen it>

Read: The final approach to Pluto – We live in very exciting times for space exploration>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
42
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.