The Icy Mountains of Pluto

Interestingly, they don&#x27;t look like mountains formed by collisional or extensional tectonic processes to my eye (a geologist who studies mountain formation). They look sort of like diapirs (i.e. lower density material pushing up through a higher-density medium; frozen methane and nitrogen are both less dense than water ice[1]) or vaguely like eroded volcanoes, but without obvious vents. Very different erosional processes could explain some of it, but it certainly doesn&#x27;t look like typical plate-tectonic or ice-sheet topography. Super cool!<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;extras.springer.com&#x2F;2006&#x2F;978-1-4020-4351-2&#x2F;Jenam&#x2F;Session4&#x2F;4Csatorre.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;extras.springer.com&#x2F;2006&#x2F;978-1-4020-4351-2&#x2F;Jenam&#x2F;Ses...</a>

That&#x27;s amazing.<p>The photo of Charon might be the most straight-up gorgeous of the lot so far:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;image-feature&#x2F;charon-s-surprising-youthful-and-varied-terrain" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;image-feature&#x2F;charon-s-surprising-youth...</a><p>At least to my eye. It&#x27;s just such a classic shot of a world.<p>Anyway: USA! USA! (I kid!) Go humanity!

The most exciting part is the following:<p>&quot;The close-up image was taken about 1.5 hours before New Horizons closest approach to Pluto, when the craft was 47,800 miles (77,000 kilometers) from the surface of the planet. The image easily resolves structures smaller than a mile across.&quot;<p>At its closest, the probe was 7,800 miles away, so we&#x27;re going to get images way clearer than this in the following days, and even this is amazing to look at.

Direct link to image gallery: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;mission_pages&#x2F;newhorizons&#x2F;images&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;mission_pages&#x2F;newhorizons&#x2F;images&#x2F;index.h...</a>

What is even more interesting, the artist Don Dixon more or less accurately predicted how Pluto looks like in 1979.

The estimate that this area is very new based on the fact that there are no meteor craters assumes that we know the distribution of meteors and space debris in the outer solar system. Does anyone know if we do in fact know this?<p>It seems plausible that there would be far fewer things at that distance, so the frequency of collisions would be lower.

Emily Lakdawalla&#x27;s commentary:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.planetary.org&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;emily-lakdawalla&#x2F;2015&#x2F;07151720-first-look-at-new-horizons-pluto-charon.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.planetary.org&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;emily-lakdawalla&#x2F;2015&#x2F;0715172...</a>

I don&#x27;t use &quot;mind blown&quot; too often, but I will in this case. Here I am, sitting on my ass munching on a snack, admiring the mountains of a planet 3 <i>Billion</i> miles away. This is so amazing.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;thumbnails&#x2F;image&#x2F;pluto-observations-through-the-years.gif" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;thumbnails&#x2F;image&#x2F;pl...</a><p>This is a time-lapse series of images of Pluto over the years - from a couple of pixels to today&#x27;s mountain ranges. In about three seconds you get a full, visual, easy to read justification and explanation for the whole space budget and science funding - it is awesome.<p>This is what we want to see - go NASA

I am always amazed at how far we&#x27;ve come. I wish I could live 100 years more.

Next century&#x27;s hottest snowboarding destination...

I did not really know what to expect but these photos are amazing and they&#x27;re not even from the nearest approach!<p>Who knew the surface would be so crater free?

I have seen a number of articles about the lack of craters and the assumption that this means recent geological activity. But that would assume a similar craterization rate to that of the inner planets like Mars and our Moon. I am wondering, is it possible that due to it&#x27;s orbit, distance and smaller size that the rate is just a lot slower?<p>whatever, It is just a mind boggling accomplishment, and the photos really are incredible.

Also a cool shot of Hydra, for the first time showing its shape.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;image-feature&#x2F;hydra-emerges-from-the-shadows" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nasa.gov&#x2F;image-feature&#x2F;hydra-emerges-from-the-sh...</a>

It&#x27;s very surprising to me how much (apparent) recent geologic activity there is on both pluto and charon. I had expected them to be much more mercury like.<p>Pluto was my favorite planet growing up. I never dreamed I&#x27;d get to see it up close.

I can&#x27;t help it. I tear up and I get all emotional every time I see NASA pictures of a new planetary surface.<p>To think a bunch of apes can look at and appreciate mountains 6 billion kilometers away... it&#x27;s awe inspiring!

Nobody has seen those mountains before!

I can understand why people like my wife look at these pictures and say, &quot;Meh. That&#x27;s nice.&quot;<p>The enormity of the distances and what humanity has done is, quite honestly, beyond what our minds are actually capable of fully comprehending.<p>I&#x27;ll re-post this for your weekend enjoyment:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;joshworth.com&#x2F;dev&#x2F;pixelspace&#x2F;pixelspace_solarsystem.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;joshworth.com&#x2F;dev&#x2F;pixelspace&#x2F;pixelspace_solarsystem.h...</a>

Amazing. Crater-less mountains, and we have no idea how they were formed (or are forming!). Lots of exciting science ahead!

Having to come up with scientific lessons on the spot (&quot;this may cause us to rethink...&quot;), for the sake of press releases must be pretty stressful. I&#x27;m also not sure that such more-or-less impromptu analyses foster the right conception of how science works.

How do they measure altitude of the mountains without a sea level?

This made me wonder, how do they measure the heights of the mountains? Using data from multiple view angles?

Why are most of the pics black and white?

Url changed from <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;science-environment-33543383" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;science-environment-33543383</a>, which is a fine article that adds some info, but perhaps not enough to override the preference for original sources.