USA.Sonda discovered mountain ranges on Pluto – Gazeta Wyborcza

 

         
 
     

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
 
 
 
 

Photos taken by the probe New Horizons, which in the last year. Tuesday flew in the vicinity of previously unexplored dwarf planet Pluto and its satellite Charon, astounded scientists. They show the high mountain ranges on Pluto and deep canyons on the surface of Charon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                          
 

                 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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The pictures that reach Earth a few hours after the flight and are surprisingly good quality, we can see that the surface of Pluto is practically devoid of craters, so characteristic of the other rocky objects of the solar system.

It was a surprise to researchers and provides – in their opinion – on still ongoing geological activity planet. It is located in the so-called. Kuiper Belt and should be constantly bombarded by circulating in the rock and ice asteroids.

The relatively smooth surface may mean that Pluto is shaped not by outside forces, but by internal heat – he said at a press conference the head of the team of scientists supervising mission, Alan Stern.

Pluto are also high mountains reaching over 3 thousand. meters from the base. Scientists have estimated that they were created in the past 100 million years, ie. They are very young from a geological point of view. They are built of rocks and ice.

Another surprise was the largest satellite of Pluto – Charon, which – as scientists speculated – it is geologically dead. Meanwhile, the probe discovered on the deep ditches, steep cliffs and canyons, with a depth of up to 10 km away. All this shows on the satellite ongoing geological processes.

“Charon simply has put us in a stupor,” – he told reporters Cathy Olkin of the department of applied physics Johns Hopkins University, where the mission control center.

The probe, which came close to Pluto at a distance 12.550 km, sent to Earth only received a fraction of pictures and scientific information. Transferring all of the data will continue for approx. 16 months. Meanwhile, New Horizons is already at a distance of more than 1.61 million km of Pluto and heading deeper into the Kuiper Belt, where it can find on objects similar to its size and mass.

Kuiper Belt, which starts at eight in the orbit of the solar system planets – Neptune, includes – as scientists believe – remains from the period of the formation of the Agreement approx. 4.6 billion years ago.

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