NASA reports new images of Pluto, covered in fog and ice – ABC Color

WASHINGTON. NASA released new images of Pluto spacecraft captured by the “New Horizons” and revealed that the reddish dwarf planet has much to do with the mist covering the surface over plates of ice.

New Horizons , which last week came the closest he has been the unknown Pluto on a mission that began nearly a decade , continues to send data back to Earth, and today the American Space Agency (NASA) shared the latest revelations.

“Our expectations were more than exceeded. With loose ice, an exotic chemical on the surface, mountain ranges and a wide fog, Pluto is showing a truly thrilling diversity of planetary geology, “he said in a statement John Grunsfeld , one of the deputy directors of the NASA.

The spacecraft captured images showing mists of up to 130 kilometers above the surface of Pluto, with two distinct layers, one of up to 80 kilometers and one of about 50 kilometers.

“The Mists detected in this image are a key element in the creation of complex hydrocarbon compounds that give the surface of Pluto its reddish element,” he said in the statement Michael Summers one co-investigator of New Horizons at George Mason University in Fairfax (Virginia).

Alan Stern , the principal investigator for New Horizons in Boulder (Colorado), he described the environment as “an alien atmosphere” of an “incredible beauty.”

So far, scientists have calculated that temperatures on Pluto would be too warm for mists were formed at higher altitudes than 30 kilometers above the surface of the dwarf planet. “We need new ideas to find out what is happening,” Summers said.

The mission of New Horizons also detected in the images tests “exotic ices” over Pluto’s surface and signs of recent geological activity.

In a plain the size of Texas, informally called Sputnik Planum and located on the west side of a region of Pluto, which is heart-shaped , an ice sheet seems to have shifted, and could continue to shift, similar to glaciers on Earth, according to NASA.

“We have only seen surfaces and active worlds like Earth and Mars” said co-investigator of the mission John Spencer .

Last week, NASA announced it had discovered “a mountain range with peaks up to 3,500 meters above the body ice “on Pluto, formed” over 100 million years ago no “in a system that has more than 4,500 million years.

The ship New Horizons took off Cape Canaveral (Florida) in January 2006, and until last July 14 failed to approach the surface of the dwarf planet after nearly 5,000 million km cruise.