Red-faced Pluto Full of Surprises

universetoday.com ^ | on July 4, 2015 | Bob King

[BenLurkin]

On Mars, iron oxide or rust colors the planet’s soil, while Pluto’s coloration is likely caused by hydrocarbon molecules called tholins that are formed when cosmic rays and solar ultraviolet light interact with methane in Pluto’s atmosphere and on its surface. Airborne tholins fall out of the atmosphere and coat the surface with a reddish gunk

...

“Pluto’s reddish color has been known for decades, but New Horizons is now allowing us to correlate the color of different places on the surface with their geology and soon, with their compositions,” said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

...

As you study the photos and animation, you’ll notice that Pluto’s largest dark spot is redder than the most of the surface; you also can’ help but wonder what’s going on with those four evenly-spaced dark streaks in the equatorial zone. When I first saw them, my reaction was “no way!” They look so neatly lined up I assumed it was an image artifact, but after seeing the rotating movie, maybe not. It’s more likely that low resolution enhances the appearance of alignment.

[BenLurkin]

True color photos showing the two hemispheres of Pluto photographed on June 27, 2015. At left, a large, dark red patch is visible. The four streaks in a row are seen at right. New Horizons will fly by the hemisphere in the left image. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

To better picture in your head how big these small bodies really are, Pluto and Charon would both fit within the United States with room to spare. Credit: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)

[Viking2002]

Tholians?

[Verginius Rufus]

In "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe wrote of "the Night's Plutonian shore."

Maybe at long last we will find out if Pluto has any Plutonian shores.

[Verginius Rufus]

In "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe wrote of "the Night's Plutonian shore."

Maybe at long last we will find out if Pluto has any Plutonian shores.

[BenLurkin]

Excellent

[outofsalt]

"a large, dark red patch is visible."

Pluto has skid marks.

[GraceG]

[FredZarguna]

The metaphor is intended in the sense that, just as the ocean has the earth as its shore, the ocean of night must crash on the entrance to the underworld [The domain of Zeus' brother, Pluto.]

It's a beautiful image, not improved by an astronomy of which Poe could not have been aware.

[FredZarguna]

Or this:

[familyop]

"while Pluto’s coloration is likely caused by hydrocarbon molecules called tholins that are formed when cosmic rays and solar ultraviolet light interact with methane in Pluto’s atmosphere and on its surface."

Fossil fuels. ;-)

[The Cajun]

Sure hope we get better resolution pics of the 4 spots (????),
very interesting.

[Verginius Rufus]

Thanks for the explication of the metaphor.

Not only was Poe unaware of the existence of the planet (sic) Pluto, when he wrote the poem Neptune had not yet been discovered. "The Raven" was first published in January 1845, and Neptune was discovered in 1846.