NASA craft discovers polygonal shape on Pluto as flyby nears

Published July 13, 2015
The photo released on Sunday by NASA shows New Horizon’s last look at Pluto’s Charon-facing hemisphere revealing intriguing geological details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes.—AFP
The photo released on Sunday by NASA shows New Horizon’s last look at Pluto’s Charon-facing hemisphere revealing intriguing geological details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes.—AFP

MIAMI: There’s a near-perfect heart shape on Pluto’s rusty red surface. The dwarf planet is dotted with bright points which may be ice caps, and a mysterious dark shape nicknamed “The Whale”.

Scientists are seeing all this for the first time as a piano-sized NASA spacecraft, called New Horizons, hurtles toward the distant celestial body on its way towards a historic flyby on July 14. “We’re at the ‘man in the moon’ stage of viewing Pluto,” said John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

“It’s easy to imagine you’re seeing familiar shapes in this bizarre collection of light and dark features. However, it’s too early to know what these features really are.” But scientists expect those mysteries to be solved in coming days as the spacecraft closes in on Pluto, once considered the farthest planet in the solar system before it was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

That same year, the New Horizons mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a journey of nearly 10 years and three billion miles, becoming the first spacecraft to explore this far-away frontier.

“We are coming up on the culmination of all this effort, all this planning,” said Joe Peterson, a science operations leader for the New Horizons mission.

“Very soon we are going to go by Pluto and get the actual goods.” The closest flyby is scheduled for July 14 at 7:50 am (1150 GMT), when New Horizons passes within 6,200 miles of Pluto.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.