PIA21590 – Blue Rays, New Horizons' High-Res Farewell to Pluto
The image is dominated by spectacular layers of blue haze in Pluto's atmosphere. Scientists believe the haze is a photochemical smog resulting from the action of sunlight on methane and other molecules in Pluto's atmosphere, producing a complex mixture of hydrocarbons such as acetylene and ethylene. These hydrocarbons accumulate into small haze particles, a fraction of a micrometer in size, which preferentially scatter blue sunlight -- the same process that can make haze appear bluish on Earth.
As they settle down through the atmosphere, the haze particles form numerous intricate, horizontal layers, some extending for hundreds of miles around large portions of the limb of Pluto. The haze layers extend to altitudes of over 120 miles (200 kilometers). Pluto's circumference is 4,667 miles (7,466 kilometers).
Adding to the beauty of this picture are mountains and other topographic features on Pluto's surface that are silhouetted against the haze near the top of the image. Sunlight casts dramatic and beautiful finger-like shadows from many of these features onto the haze (especially on the left, near the 11 o'clock position), forming crepuscular rays like those often seen in Earth's atmosphere near sunrise or sunset.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.Relevantní obrázky
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Pluto (trpasličí planeta)Pluto, oficiální označení (134340) Pluto a se symboly nebo , je největší a po Eris druhou nejhmotnější známou trpasličí planetou sluneční soustavy. Zároveň se jedná o deváté největší a desáté nejhmotnější známé těleso, které obíhá přímo okolo Slunce. Roku 1930 ho objevil americký astronom Clyde Tombaugh. Toto kosmické těleso astronomové původně řadili mezi planety, ovšem po změně definice pojmu „planeta“, ke kterému došlo během 26. valného shromáždění Mezinárodní astronomické unie v Praze v roce 2006, bylo zařazeno mezi trpasličí planety a plutoidy. .. pokračovat ve čtení