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New Horizons has sent the first pictures after the failure of Pluto and Charon
Photo: NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI i>
New Horizons space probe sent new pictures of Pluto and Charon, the first after the incident before the incident with the equipment failure. The images were obtained by astronomers July 8, 2015 , while the machine is at a distance more than 6 million kilometers from the planetoid. Images obtained using instruments such as the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and Ralph. Specialization first instrument - getting black and white high-resolution photos, and the second - a low-resolution color photos.
Pluto and Charon - interesting to explore the couple. Two icy world, which rotate around the center of gravity planetoids are already interested professionals. Now it is believed that both the world billions of years spent together, but they are not "family", but rather randomly were tied.
Pluto and Charon, photo dated July 8, with the imposition of a color image of Ralph on a black and white photo from LORRI i>
Pluto's surface covered with light and dark areas, while Charon's surface is more homogeneous, although polar region darker. The reddish material that is stain Pluto, Charon is not on. In addition, there is an atmosphere of Pluto and Charon - no. Pluto coated frozen nitrogen, methane, carbon monoxide (CO). Charon's surface is covered with water ice and ammonia derivatives. The researchers also point out that Pluto's surface is mainly rock and Charon amount of water ice and rocks on the surface are correlated as 50/50.
Pluto snapshot obtained LORRI i>
"These two objects are together billions of years in the same orbit, but they are very different," - said one Alan Stern, SwRI (Southwest Research Institute).
Charon's diameter is 1,200 km - is approximately two times smaller than the diameter of Pluto. Thus, Charon is a unique companion planets in the solar system, if we take the ratio to the size of its satellite planets. Now quite difficult to get a clear picture of Charon, as its surface is substantially uniform and flat. However, as we approach the Pluto and Charon New Horizons will get clearer photos.
Charon, the image will LORRI i>
Recently discovered light areas on Charon may be impact craters. If this is true, scientists will be able to use this fact to the benefit of themselves, as an impact crater may show surface layers of the planet. In any case, it is clear that Charon - a completely different world, which is developing its own laws.
It is worth recalling that the New Horizons Pluto comes closer to the minimum distance of the 14 of July.
Source: geektimes.ru/post/253278/
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