Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on July 17, 2015, 04:35:12 pm

Title: High-res image of Pluto's moon Charon shows strange depressed mountain
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 17, 2015, 04:35:12 pm

High-res image of Pluto's moon Charon shows strange depressed mountain
The Verge
By Loren Grush on July 16, 2015 01:57 pm @lorengrush


(https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aO0MeUHTZIKHYzpjE6Hxw-_pbxs=/0x132:1041x718/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46761590/charon20for207-16-15.0.0.jpg)
(NASA)



We're getting even crisper images of Pluto's largest moon Charon. NASA just released the first high-resolution photograph of a section of Charon's surface, zeroing in on a feature that looks like a "mountain in a moat."

This image was taken from the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14th at 6:30AM ET, when it was 49,000 miles away from the moon. It depicts an area that's 200 miles long, filled with craters and a mysterious depressed mountain at the top lefthand corner. "This is a feature that has geologists stunned and stumped," said Jeff Moore with NASA’s Ames Research Center.

NASA plans to release even more high-resolution images of Charon’s surface in the coming days. The photographs promise to boost our knowledge of the moon’s composition and history. So far, a previous image has already revealed a large smooth region in Charon’s southern hemisphere, which suggests the moon is geologically active.

Update July 16 2:55PM ET: NASA initially released an image in which the surface shot corresponded to the wrong area of Charon. The agency released a corrected image, and the piece has been updated.


http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/16/8979745/charon-surface-photo-pluto-flyby-nasa-new-horizons (http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/16/8979745/charon-surface-photo-pluto-flyby-nasa-new-horizons)

Title: Re: High-res image of Pluto's moon Charon shows strange depressed mountain
Post by: Geo on July 17, 2015, 08:58:11 pm

Perhaps it should be named Montes Sovietici? ;cute

Title: Re: High-res image of Pluto's moon Charon shows strange depressed mountain
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 17, 2015, 11:32:38 pm

Dunno - but the strange manic mountain is watching with interest...