Let's Go On A Virtual Tour Of Pluto!
Let's Go On A Virtual Tour Of Pluto!
In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft took more than 100 new images of the dwarf planet. Now, NASA has given us a virtual landing video. Take a virtual tour here!
In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft took more than 100 new images of the dwarf planet. Now, NASA has given us a virtual landing video. Take a virtual tour here!
Before 2015, not much was known about Pluto, but everything changed when the New Horizons spacecraft sent us back incredible photos from the first mission on its way outside the solar system.
Here are some things we know about Pluto now that we didn't before New Horizons visited the lonely little dwarf planet:
New Horizons' Major Findings About Pluto
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Now, NASA has over 100 images from Pluto, and they've used them to create this amazing "landing," which simulates what it would be like to land on the shore of Sputnik Planitia, the edge of Pluto's giant heart-shaped area.
youtube embed goes here!
To create this video, originally in black and white, NASA had to rely on their previous knowledge of what Pluto looked like, combining the high quality photos from New Horizons with some of the photos captured by the low-resolution Ralph color camera onboard. You can also watch the same video in its original black and white. New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern and New Horizons Scientist Constantine Tsang spoke about this unique video project and what it means to be able to imagine a touchdown on Pluto in this way.
New Horizons Scientists Talk About The Landing Video
Alan Stern
Just over a year ago, Pluto was a dot in the distance. This video shows what it would be like to ride aboard an approaching spacecraft and see Pluto grow to become a world, and then to swoop down over its spectacular terrains as if we were approaching some future landing on them!
Constantine Tsang
The challenge in creating this movie is to make it feel like you're diving into Pluto... It's certainly fun to see this and think what it would feel like to approach a landing on Pluto!
NASA has also been able to create this beautiful color map for the planet:
According to George Dvorsky, a contributing editor from Gizmodo and io9, the map shows how Pluto's color features are striated on a large scale, which helps us better understand how Pluto's colors became what they are. The deep red is probably caused by hydrocarbons called tholins. When the red ice is exposed to direct sunlight, it turns to a still-reddish vapor and drifts to the poles.
This pattern of melting and freezing is probably why we’re seeing distinct latitudinal color bands.
George Dvorsky
Gizmodo, January 20, 2017
Isn't science amazing? But now, we'd like to know...
Do you think people will actually land on Pluto one day?
Do you think people will actually land on Pluto one day?
Any other thoughts? Talk to us about them in the comments below, and share with your friends to see what they think!