Mysterious Features On Pluto Dazzling Scientists


Pluto is 3 billion miles away. It’s?cold, dark, and mysterious. Pluto is about to get less mysterious?as we are illuminated with knowledge in?the next two days. If you haven’t been paying attention, NASA launched a craft?into space in 2006 called the New Horizons spacecraft, its primary mission: to gather intel on Pluto, the controversial dwarf-planet. The mission is soon to come to its climax as New Horizons will be about 7000 miles from Pluto on the morning?of July 14th. However, with the spacecraft traveling at over 30K miles an hour, it?only has a few hours to grab the most detailed images.

Latest Image of Pluto
Image courtesy of nasa.gov

Odd Features

Though not there yet, even at 2 million miles from Pluto, New Horizons has revealed some astonishing?footage. The dark bands in the image above have been seen before, but never with such detail. The bands are showing some irregularity along the length of them. This area is gravitationally locked with Pluto’s moon, Charon (just as our moon is tidally locked to the Earth). Scientists?are excited as this may indicate direct evidence of geologic activity as a result of tidal forces affecting the surface of Pluto. In the image, you can also see hints of large impact craters. It appears that?Pluto is going to hand-out a smorgasbord of surprises as New Horizons journeys closer.


Fly With New Horizons

NASA has created an app called “Eyes on Pluto” where you can see somewhat LIVE the trajectory of New Horizons, the locations of orbiting bodies, and get a sense of the high-tech?instruments on board. There is also a “Preview” function that will send you on a journey to Pluto in advance. You can download the app, here: Eyes On Pluto.

Screenshot of Eyes on Pluto App
Screenshot – Eyes on Pluto

To Pluto, and Beyond! Again.

Reggie holds a B.S. in Human Development and a M.Ed. in Science Communication. He is wrapping up an M.S. in Biology from Clemson University, and is also a Doctoral student in Educational Psychology with California Coast University. He has been an informal science and critical thinking educator since 1998 spearheading one of the largest podcasting sites dedicated to free inquiry and science. He retired from podcasting and currently works as a biology educator in Orlando, FL. He is a vegan (most of the time) and his hobbies are: genealogy, singing, anime, watching science-oriented documentaries, and science fact-checking. Feel free to add Reggie on LinkedIn where he periodically writes articles on critical thinking, evolution, and other sciences: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginaldfinley