By Staff Writer (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Jul 16, 2015 07:49 AM EDT
Tags Pluto, nasa, new horizons, dwarf planet

NASA released new images of Pluto on July 15, 2015, featuring youthful mountains and even snow. Scientists acquired new knowledge from the recent photos of the dwarf planet, which can lead to more advanced space exploration projects.

CNN reported that the spacecraft New Horizons flew by Pluto on July 14 and took photos of the planet to send back to Earth. The probe reached a new milestone in space exploration by getting very close to Pluto, and making the United States the first nation to send a space probe to every planet in the solar system. The Mariner 4 probe did a flyby of Mars 50 years ago, which was the first spacecraft to transmit photos from space of another planet back to Earth.

“Yesterday, America's space program took another historic leap for humankind. Today, the New Horizons team is bringing what was previously a blurred point of light into focus," said spokesman Dwayne Brown.

Vox stated that New Horizons flew by the Pluto system in under one hour, after traveling nine years and three billion miles. The spacecraft did not have enough fuel to enter orbit or slow down. The probe featured a fixed antenna to break contact with Earth when necessary. The probe also has limited power and computing capability to provide radio silence during the flyby. New Horizons measures 27 inches tall, 83 inches long and 108 inches wide. It weighed 1,054 pounds at launch and has seven onboard instruments for mapping purposes.

Based on the same CNN report, New Horizons cited that Pluto has a diameter of 1,473 miles, which is bigger compared to previous estimates. Some of the new images presented icy mountains on Pluto, with some having heights of 11,000 feet. The mountains are considered young, having formed no more than 100 million years ago, since the solar system has an age of about 4.56 billion years. It is possible that Pluto’s environment may be geologically active. The clear photos also showed Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, as well as the planet’s surface contours. Vox revealed that photos of the small moon Hydra were also taken, which appeared to be covered in water ice.

More images and details about the dwarf planet are expected to be transmitted by the probe in the following weeks. The New Horizons team indicated that they will continue to explore space and even more planets beyond the Neptune belt. The new information they acquired from Pluto will hopefully help them in future endeavors.

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