Pluto's Moon Charon Is Beautiful And Has Violent Past
3 October 2015, 7:36 am EDT
By Katherine Derla Tech Times
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft brought back stunning images of Pluto's moon, Charon, during the spacecraft's mission in July. The close-up images were transformed into a video that shows Charon's beautiful but battered surface. ( NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute )
Stunning images of Pluto's moon, Charon, were sent back by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s New Horizons spacecraft during its July mission.
The closeup images were transformed into a video that shows Charon's beautiful but battered surface.
The new video shows a complex crust of Pluto's biggest moon. Features include mountains, landslides and canyons.
New Horizons' flyby images show a huge 1,000-mile crater snaking across the surface. In context, Charon's crater is roughly the size of Arizona's Grand Canyon multiplied four times. In several places, Charon's craters are twice as deep as the Grand Canyon's.
NASA officials said that the images failed to capture the full extent of the craters. Officials believe that the crater snakes around all the way to Charon's backside.
John Spencer from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado said it seems Charon's entire crust is split into two.
"In respect to its size relative to Charon, this feature is much like the vast Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars," stated Spencer, who also leads New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team.
Despite the crater's massive length, the images also show relatively smooth areas on the moon's "canyon" system. This is known as the Vulcan Planum, an area with few craters. The images suggest that it has experienced some kind of resurfacing.
The few craters on Charon's Vulcan Planum could mean the resurfaced landscapes are relatively new. Scientists are pondering over the possibility of an internal ocean.
The volume of frozen water underneath could have caused the craters to form and "crack" Charon's surface. Scientists think these could be the work of cryovolcanoes.
Pluto has five moons, namely Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. With a 750-mile diameter, Charon is Pluto's biggest companion. Scientists referred to Pluto and Charon as a binary system, with their shared center of gravity.
The New Horizons spacecraft is speeding toward an icy ring called Kuiper Belt, just beyond the orbit of Neptune. The spacecraft's next mission is to flyby an object in Kuiper Belt in 2019 upon NASA's approval.
By Katherine Derla Tech Times
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft brought back stunning images of Pluto's moon, Charon, during the spacecraft's mission in July. The close-up images were transformed into a video that shows Charon's beautiful but battered surface. ( NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute )
Stunning images of Pluto's moon, Charon, were sent back by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s New Horizons spacecraft during its July mission.
The closeup images were transformed into a video that shows Charon's beautiful but battered surface.
The new video shows a complex crust of Pluto's biggest moon. Features include mountains, landslides and canyons.
New Horizons' flyby images show a huge 1,000-mile crater snaking across the surface. In context, Charon's crater is roughly the size of Arizona's Grand Canyon multiplied four times. In several places, Charon's craters are twice as deep as the Grand Canyon's.
NASA officials said that the images failed to capture the full extent of the craters. Officials believe that the crater snakes around all the way to Charon's backside.
John Spencer from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado said it seems Charon's entire crust is split into two.
"In respect to its size relative to Charon, this feature is much like the vast Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars," stated Spencer, who also leads New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team.
Despite the crater's massive length, the images also show relatively smooth areas on the moon's "canyon" system. This is known as the Vulcan Planum, an area with few craters. The images suggest that it has experienced some kind of resurfacing.
The few craters on Charon's Vulcan Planum could mean the resurfaced landscapes are relatively new. Scientists are pondering over the possibility of an internal ocean.
The volume of frozen water underneath could have caused the craters to form and "crack" Charon's surface. Scientists think these could be the work of cryovolcanoes.
Pluto has five moons, namely Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. With a 750-mile diameter, Charon is Pluto's biggest companion. Scientists referred to Pluto and Charon as a binary system, with their shared center of gravity.
The New Horizons spacecraft is speeding toward an icy ring called Kuiper Belt, just beyond the orbit of Neptune. The spacecraft's next mission is to flyby an object in Kuiper Belt in 2019 upon NASA's approval.
