Krun Macula Meets Sputnik Planum on Pluto [Video]

Latest New Horizons images of Pluto are the mission's highest-resolution captures

By Caleb A. Scharf on June 10, 2016

Krun Macula Meets Sputnik Planum on Pluto [Video] — Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Data continues to beam back from New Horizons' speedy journey through the Pluto-Charon system in July 2015. By contrast to this interplanetary flythrough, the information reaches us at a painful, but necessary rate of no more than 1 kilobit a second. Included in the latest batch are precious images that are the highest physical resolution that we've ever seen of Pluto's surface, or are likely to see again for quite a while.

Here is a close up of the 'shoreline' of the rugged highlands (Krun Macula - an informal name after a lord of the Underworld and dark 'macula' on planetary surfaces) as they meet the icy plains (Sputnik Planum) of Pluto. The first image shows the overall context.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

And in detail, reorientated. This combines different resolutions, but the lower half reaches 260 feet (80 meter) per pixel details - the best from New Horizons at Pluto. The deep valleys towards the bottom are up to 25 miles (40 km) long and reach 2 miles (3 km) in depth.

And you can see all of the highest resolution images that New Horizons took, stitched together in this remarkable mosaic - from limb of the world to near the terminator and deep shadow. Here it's been animated for a journey across Pluto's frigid landscape.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab/Southwest Research Inst.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Caleb A. Scharf

Dr. Caleb A. Scharf is Director of Astrobiology at Columbia University,and has an international reputation as a research astrophysicist, and asa lecturer to college and public audiences. The UK's Guardian newspaperhas listed his blog Life, Unbounded, as one of their "hottest scienceblogs," while an editor at Seed Magazine called it "phenomenal.Informed, fresh, and thoughtful." Scharf is author and co-author of morethan 100 scientific research articles in astronomy and astrophysics. Hiswork has been featured in publications such as New Scientist, ScientificAmerican, Science News, Cosmos Magazine, Physics Today, and NationalGeographic, as well as online at sites like Space.com and Physorg.com.His textbook for undergraduate and graduate students, Extrasolar Planetsand Astrobiology, won the 2012 Chambliss Prize of the AAS. Hisarticles and reviews have appeared in such prestigious publications asScience, Nature, The Astrophysical Journal, and Monthly Notices of theRoyal Astronomical Society.Dr. Scharf is a regular keynote speaker at academic meetings, such asfor the American Physical Society, museums, and both public and privatevenues, including the American Museum of Natural History, the RubinMuseum of Art in New York. He has been a guest on Krulwich on Science atNPR, William Shatner's "Weird or What?" and has served as a consultantto editors and producers at National Geographic Magazine, The ScienceChannel, The Discovery Channel, and The New York Times.