(Image: LORRI/NASA)
About 80 days before it makes its closest approach to Pluto, NASA鈥檚 New Horizons spacecraft can finally see surface features on this tiny world 鈥� including what may be an ice cap at its pole.
鈥淲e feel like ocean mariners, explorers, crossing between continents,鈥� said principal investigator in a press conference yesterday. 鈥淲e can finally see the shore. That鈥檚 land ho.鈥�
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New Horizons was launched in 2006, back when Pluto was still considered the ninth planet instead of a dwarf planet, as it was designated later that year. Previously, our best images of this distant world came from the Hubble Space Telescope, which saw it as a smeary orange blob.
鈥淲e are now close enough with this mission to Pluto that we鈥檙e starting to get images that go where no Hubble has gone before,鈥� said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA鈥檚 science mission directorate.
Images taken with New Horizons鈥� LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) camera were stitched together to make a movie of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon, orbiting around each other (see image above). The camera is oriented relative to Pluto鈥檚 axis of rotation so it is looking almost directly at its poles. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rotating before us like a chicken on a barbecue stick,鈥� Stern said.
The two rocky bodies still look pixelated and vague despite the appearance of surface features. The images in which Pluto will start to look like a recognisable world won鈥檛 start coming in until the week before the spacecraft makes its closest approach on 14 July.
Closer images of distinct bright and dark patches, which make Pluto look lumpy as they rotate in and out of view, will reveal a wealth of information in the next few months.
鈥淭hose are real features on the surface of Pluto, seen for the first time,鈥� Stern said. 鈥淭his is just a little bit better than anything that鈥檚 ever been obtained in history.鈥�
Most intriguing is one bright pixel that showed up in the same place in every image. 鈥淚t鈥檚 suspiciously suggestive of a polar cap,鈥� Stern said. However, the team will need composition data 鈥� expected in a month and a half 鈥� to know for sure.
鈥淎s planetary scientists, it鈥檚 rare to see any planet in the solar system at this resolution displaying such strong surface markings,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mystery whether these bright and dark regions are caused by geology or topography or composition, but New Horizons has the capability as we get closer to solve those mysteries. We鈥檙e looking forward to that.鈥�
