{"id":19526,"date":"2015-12-18T17:04:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T09:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/new-horizons-probe-sends-more-amazing-pics-of-pluto-and-a-tiny-moon-called-nix\/"},"modified":"2015-12-18T17:04:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T09:04:54","slug":"new-horizons-probe-sends-more-amazing-pics-of-pluto-and-a-tiny-moon-called-nix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/new-horizons-probe-sends-more-amazing-pics-of-pluto-and-a-tiny-moon-called-nix\/","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons probe sends more amazing pics of Pluto and a tiny moon called Nix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pluto
The New Horizons probe got a look at craters containing dark material during its July 14 Pluto flyby. (Credit: NASA \/ JHUAPL \/ SwRI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hits just keep on coming from NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission to Pluto: This week\u2019s stunners include views of the surface that look weirder than the terrain in \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d plus a close look at Nix, one of Pluto\u2019s five moons.<\/p>\n

During its July 14 flyby, the piano-sized New Horizons spacecraft captured a string of pictures showing the eastern edge of a dark region nicknamed Cthulhu Regio and a potential ice volcano called Wright Mons. You can also see light-colored craters that have been partially filled in with darker material.<\/p>\n

\u201cPluto has greatly exceeded our expectations in diversity of land forms and processes \u2014 processes that continue to the present,\u201d New Horizons team member Alan Howard, a planetary scientist from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, said in Thursday\u2019s update from NASA.<\/p>\n

\"Plutonian
Features that appear to be channels, valleys or fissures criss-cross Plutonian terrain, as seen in this view from the New Horizons spacecraft. (Credit: NASA \/ JHUAPL \/ SwRI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scientists say they\u2019ve spotted networks of eroded valleys, some of which are reminiscent of the hanging valleys seen in Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere on Earth.<\/p>\n

The picture of a half-lit Nix, taken from a range of about 14,000 miles, shows more detail than you\u2019d be able to see from the surface of Pluto. The surface is pockmarked with impact craters \u2014 making it look like the Martian moon Deimos, or maybe a potato.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NewHorizons2015\/status\/677565358249631744<\/p>\n