{"id":19451,"date":"2016-02-27T00:53:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T16:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/plutos-polar-canyons-get-their-close-up\/"},"modified":"2016-02-27T00:53:33","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T16:53:33","slug":"plutos-polar-canyons-get-their-close-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/plutos-polar-canyons-get-their-close-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Pluto\u2019s polar canyons get their close-up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pluto
This enhanced-color image was obtained by New Horizons\u2019 MVIC camera about 45 minutes before closest approach on July 14, 2015, when the spacecraft was 21,100 miles away. The lower edge of the image measures about 750 miles long. (Credit: NASA \/ JHUAPL \/ SwRI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The heart-shaped region along Pluto\u2019s equator has been the darling of NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission, but it\u2019s the north polar region that gets the love in this week\u2019s featured image.<\/p>\n

The area seen here is part of a region informally known as Lowell Regio. That\u2019s a tribute to Percival Lowell, the millionaire astronomer who sparked the search that eventually led to Pluto\u2019s discovery.<\/p>\n

Toward the left side of the image, there\u2019s a canyon that measures about 45 miles wide. Other canyons, to the east and west, are about 6 miles wide. These formations hint at tectonic activity in ancient times, according to the New Horizons science team.<\/p>\n

Near the lower right corner, there are irregularly shaped pits that span as much as 45 miles. The science team says those pits are about 2.5 miles deep, and may indicate locations where subsurface ice has been lost from below. That would have caused the surface layer to collapse into the void.<\/p>\n

\"Annotated
This version of image highlights the widest canyon in the north polar region (yellow) with a narrow valley in the canyon floor (blue). The terrain is also marked by parallel canyons (green) and an additional valley (pink). Large, irregular-shaped pits are marked in red. (Credit: NASA \/ JHUAPL \/SwRI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The higher elevations have more of a yellowish cast in this enhanced-color image, while the lower elevations are more bluish-gray. Infrared readings suggest that the region has lots of methane ice, but not so much nitrogen ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne possibility is that the yellow terrains may correspond to other methane deposits that have been more processed by solar radiation than the bluer terrain,\u201d the Lowell Observatory\u2019s Will Grundy, who leads the New Horizons mission\u2019s composition team, said in NASA\u2019s image advisory.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that the north pole, like Pluto\u2019s heart, suggest the dwarf planet\u2019s geology is a lot more active than scientists would have expected before last July\u2019s flyby. And there\u2019s more to come: More than half of the data collected during the flyby still has to be transmitted back to Earth.<\/p>\n