Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: NASA releases new data, pictures from Pluto flyby

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 17, 2015 at 4:30:48 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: NASA releases new data, pictures from Pluto flyby

July 17, 2015
15-154
NASA's New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto's 'Heart'
In the center left of Pluto's vast heart-shaped feature – informally named "Tombaugh Regio" - lies a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto's icy mountains and has been informally named Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), after Earth's first artificial satellite. The surface appears to be divided into irregularly-shaped segments that are ringed by narrow troughs. Features that appear to be groups of mounds and fields of small pits are also visible. This image was acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as one-half mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. The blocky appearance of some features is due to compression of the image.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
In the latest data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, a new close-up image of Pluto reveals a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto's icy mountains, in the center-left of the heart feature, informally named "Tombaugh Regio" (Tombaugh Region) after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930.
"This terrain is not easy to explain," said Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "The discovery of vast, craterless, very young plains on Pluto exceeds all pre-flyby expectations."
This fascinating icy plains region -- resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth -- has been informally named "Sputnik Planum" (Sputnik Plain) after the Earth's first artificial satellite. It has a broken surface of irregularly-shaped segments, roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) across, bordered by what appear to be shallow troughs. Some of these troughs have darker material within them, while others are traced by clumps of hills that appear to rise above the surrounding terrain. Elsewhere, the surface appears to be etched by fields of small pits that may have formed by a process called sublimation, in which ice turns directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does on Earth.
Scientists have two working theories as to how these segments were formed. The irregular shapes may be the result of the contraction of surface materials, similar to what happens when mud dries. Alternatively, they may be a product of convection, similar to wax rising in a lava lamp. On Pluto, convection would occur within a surface layer of frozen carbon monoxide, methane and nitrogen, driven by the scant warmth of Pluto's interior.
Pluto's icy plains also display dark streaks that are a few miles long. These streaks appear to be aligned in the same direction and may have been produced by winds blowing across the frozen surface.
The Tuesday "heart of the heart" image was taken when New Horizons was 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) from Pluto, and shows features as small as one-half mile (1 kilometer) across. Mission scientists will learn more about these mysterious terrains from higher-resolution and stereo images that New Horizons will pull from its digital recorders and send back to Earth during the next year.
The New Horizons Atmospheres team observed Pluto's atmosphere as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) above the surface, demonstrating that Pluto's nitrogen-rich atmosphere is quite extended. This is the first observation of Pluto's atmosphere at altitudes higher than 170 miles above the surface (270 kilometers).
The New Horizons Particles and Plasma team has discovered a region of cold, dense ionized gas tens of thousands of miles beyond Pluto -- the planet's atmosphere being stripped away by the solar wind and lost to space.
"This is just a first tantalizing look at Pluto's plasma environment," said New Horizons co-investigator Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder.
"With the flyby in the rearview mirror, a decade-long journey to Pluto is over --but, the science payoff is only beginning," said Jim Green, director of Planetary Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Data from New Horizons will continue to fuel discovery for years to come."
Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado, added, "We've only scratched the surface of our Pluto exploration, but it already seems clear to me that in the initial reconnaissance of the solar system, the best was saved for last."
New Horizons is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the mission, science team, payload operations and encounter science planning.
Follow the New Horizons mission on Twitter and use the hashtag #PlutoFlyby to join the conversation. Live updates are also available on the mission Facebook page.
For more information on the New Horizons mission, including fact sheets, schedules, video and new images, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons
and
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/plutotoolkit.cfm
-end-
Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov
Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
240-228-7536
michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu
Maria Stothoff
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-3305
maria.stothoff@swri.org
Last Updated: July 17, 2015
Editor: Gina Anderson

July 17, 2015
Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto's 'Heart'
This annotated view of a portion of Pluto's Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), named for Earth's first artificial satellite, shows an array of enigmatic features. The surface appears to be divided into irregularly shaped segments that are ringed by narrow troughs, some of which contain darker materials. Features that appear to be groups of mounds and fields of small pits are also visible. This image was acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. The blocky appearance of some features is due to compression of the image.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
In the latest data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, a new close-up image of Pluto reveals a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto's icy mountains, in the center-left of the heart feature, informally named "Tombaugh Regio" (Tombaugh Region) after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930.
"This terrain is not easy to explain," said Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "The discovery of vast, craterless, very young plains on Pluto exceeds all pre-flyby expectations."
This fascinating icy plains region -- resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth -- has been informally named "Sputnik Planum" (Sputnik Plain) after the Earth's first artificial satellite. It has a broken surface of irregularly-shaped segments, roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) across, bordered by what appear to be shallow troughs. Some of these troughs have darker material within them, while others are traced by clumps of hills that appear to rise above the surrounding terrain. Elsewhere, the surface appears to be etched by fields of small pits that may have formed by a process called sublimation, in which ice turns directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does on Earth.
Scientists have two working theories as to how these segments were formed. The irregular shapes may be the result of the contraction of surface materials, similar to what happens when mud dries. Alternatively, they may be a product of convection, similar to wax rising in a lava lamp. On Pluto, convection would occur within a surface layer of frozen carbon monoxide, methane and nitrogen, driven by the scant warmth of Pluto's interior.
Pluto's icy plains also display dark streaks that are a few miles long. These streaks appear to be aligned in the same direction and may have been produced by winds blowing across the frozen surface.
The Tuesday "heart of the heart" image was taken when New Horizons was 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) from Pluto, and shows features as small as one-half mile (1 kilometer) across. Mission scientists will learn more about these mysterious terrains from higher-resolution and stereo images that New Horizons will pull from its digital recorders and send back to Earth during the next year.
n the center left of Pluto's vast heart-shaped feature – informally named "Tombaugh Regio" - lies a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto's icy mountains and has been informally named Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), after Earth's first artificial satellite.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
Last Updated: July 17, 2015
Editor: Sarah Loff

July 17, 2015
Pluto Wags its Tail: New Horizons Discovers a Cold, Dense Region of Atmospheric Ions Behind Pluto
Artist's concept of the interaction of the solar wind (the supersonic outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun) with Pluto's predominantly nitrogen atmosphere. Some of the molecules that form the atmosphere have enough energy to overcome Pluto's weak gravity and escape into space, where they are ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation. As the solar wind encounters the obstacle formed by the ions, it is slowed and diverted (depicted in the red region), possibly forming a shock wave upstream of Pluto. The ions are "picked up" by the solar wind and carried in its flow past the dwarf planet to form an ion or plasma tail (blue region). The Solar Wind around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on the New Horizons spacecraft made the first measurements of this region of low-energy atmospheric ions shortly after closest approach on July 14. Such measurements will enable the SWAP team to determine the rate at which Pluto loses its atmosphere and, in turn, will yield insight into the evolution of the Pluto's atmosphere and surface. Also illustrated are the orbits of Pluto's five moons and the trajectory of the spacecraft.
Credits: NASA/APL/SwRI
New Horizons has discovered a region of cold, dense ionized gas tens of thousands of miles beyond Pluto -- the planet's atmosphere being stripped away by the solar wind and lost to space. Beginning an hour and half after closest approach, the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument observed a cavity in the solar wind -- the outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun -- between 48,000 miles (77,000 km) and 68,000 miles (109,000 km) downstream of Pluto. SWAP data revealed this cavity to be populated with nitrogen ions forming a "plasma tail" of undetermined structure and length extending behind the planet.
Similar plasma tails are observed at planets like Venus and Mars. In the case of Pluto's predominantly nitrogen atmosphere, escaping molecules are ionized by solar ultraviolet light, "picked up" by the solar wind, and carried past Pluto to form the plasma tail discovered by New Horizons. Prior to closest approach, nitrogen ions were detected far upstream of Pluto by the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument, providing a foretaste of Pluto's escaping atmosphere.
Plasma tail formation is but one fundamental aspect of Pluto's solar wind interaction, the nature of which is determined by several yet poorly constrained factors. Of these, perhaps the most important is the atmospheric loss rate. "This is just a first tantalizing look at Pluto's plasma environment," says co-investigator Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder, who leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma team. "We'll be getting more data in August, which we can combine with the Alice and Rex atmospheric measurements to pin down the rate at which Pluto is losing its atmosphere. Once we know that, we'll be able to answer outstanding questions about the evolution of Pluto's atmosphere and surface and determine to what extent Pluto's solar wind interaction is like that of Mars."
Last Updated: July 17, 2015
Editor: Lillian Gipson

July 16, 2015
M15-109
NASA to Release New Pluto Images, Science Findings at July 17 NASA TV Briefing
This new image of an area on Pluto's largest moon Charon has a captivating feature -- a depression with a peak in the middle, shown here in the upper left corner of the inset. The image shows an area approximately 240 miles (390 kilometers) from top to bottom, including few visible craters. The image was taken at approximately 6:30 a.m. EDT on July 14, 2015, about 1.5 hours before closest approach to Pluto, from a range of 49,000 miles (79,000 kilometers).
Credits: NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI
NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, July 17, to reveal new images of Pluto and discuss new science findings from Tuesday's historic flyby.
The briefing will be held in James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the briefing live.
Participants in the briefing will be:
Jim Green, director of Planetary Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado
Randy Gladstone, New Horizons co-investigator at SwRI in San Antonio
Jeffrey Moore, New Horizons co-investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California
Fran Bagenal, New Horizons co-investigator, University of Colorado, Boulder
Media may participate by phone. To join the briefing by phone, reporters must email their name, affiliation and telephone number to Karen Northon at karen.northon@nasa.gov by noon Friday.
Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.
For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information on the New Horizons mission, including fact sheets, schedules, video and images, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons
-end-
Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laurie.cantillo@nasa.gov
Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
240-228-7536
michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu
Last Updated: July 17, 2015
Editor: Karen Northon

NASA releases new data, pictures from Pluto flyby
By Stephen Feller   |   July 17, 2015 at 3:27 PM
1 of 5
WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- NASA researchers have "maybe" 2 percent of the data and images the New Horizons probe gathered about Pluto during its 22-hour trip past the distant planet.
Officials at the space agency excitedly released the second round of data downloaded from New Horizons, which was characterized by closer pictures and animations of the planet than have been shown yet, and theories on the makeup and movement of Pluto's atmosphere.
"I think the solar system saved the best for last," Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colo., said at a press conference Friday to release more data and "beautiful eye candy" collected near the planet.
Now more than 2 million miles past Pluto, New Horizons has about 2 percent, or less than a gigabyte, of the 50 gigabytes of information it has collected. The expectation is that about 5 percent will have been sent back to Earth over the next week. NASA has scheduled a press conference for July 24 to announce the next round of pictures and information that will be released.
Pictures already sent back have shown frozen, craterless, icy plains on the planet, as well as mountains that rise as high over Pluto's surface as the Rocky Mountains are over Earth.
The plains of the Tombaugh Regio, formerly referred to as the "heart feature," are now believed to be carbon monoxide rich, and also somewhat more recent than some other parts of the planet based on the smoothness of the topography in the region.
"Let's remind ourselves that some surfaces of Pluto are marked with craters indicating its age," said Jeffrey Moore, New Horizons co-investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center. "All of this indicates that Pluto has experienced a long geographic history."
Based on the pictures sent so far, Moore said that fractures in Pluto's crust and the existence of mountainous regions means some kind of tectonics or "mountain building forces" must exist there. Additionally, he said that erosion processes appear to be functioning on the planet, based on some of what can be seen in photos.
Other areas showed mysterious pock marks and features that Moore briefly mused about the potentials of before stopping himself short. "We are in the most preliminary stages of our investigations. Jumping to conclusions comes at great peril," he said.
This second bit of data from New Horizons also is significant because researchers have been able to start informing theories that have long been held about Pluto's atmosphere, which appears to be nitrogren-based.
"We've had to wait until we were past Pluto and looking at the sun to get our best data," said Randy Gladstone, New Horizons co-investigator at SwRI in San Antonio. "We're looking forward to getting full data in a month or so."
What they know already is that nitrogen is evaporating off the surface of the planet and escaping into the atmosphere because the gravity there is much weaker than on Earth or Mars, according to Fran Bagenal, a New Horizons co-investigator at the University of Colorado. As the nitrogen enters Pluto's atmosphere, it is being picked up by solar winds.
The escaping nitrogen is ionized as it leaves the planet and is hit by the solar winds, which has created a tail of atmosphere behind the planet. "We have actually flown through this," Bagenal said, "The data we get next month will allow us to quantify the amount of that escaping atmosphere."
Over the next several months, the researchers said they will begin to get composition maps, thermal maps, and topographical maps that will allow them to learn much more about planet.
"This is the tip of the iceberg," Moore said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xAGwxl7FZWw
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