APOD: A Plutonian Landscape (2015 Sep 18)

[C0ppert0p]

This is one of the most amazing planetary photographs I have ever seen, (and I have seen a lot).

[Well-there-it-is]

Sorry if this has been addressed, but...
Pluto being rather far from the sun, which I'd think would be but a dot in the sky, how are all these amazing photos of Pluto so well lit with so much detail visible?

[Chris Peterson]

Sorry if this has been addressed, but...
Pluto being rather far from the sun, which I'd think would be but a dot in the sky, how are all these amazing photos of Pluto so well lit with so much detail visible?

The Sun is barely more than a dot in the sky from Earth! It's not the size, but the intensity, and there's as much light at Pluto as we have on a heavily overcast day. Plus, you can't tell from an image what the actual brightness is. A one-second exposure on a moonlit night is indistinguishable from a shorter one made on a sunny day.

[FLPhotoCatcher]

Viewing the large photo, it looks to me like there are some low clouds in the flat plain areas! The clouds (or whatever they are) appear to be arranged in rows, or cloud streets. I suppose they could be dunes of some sort.

[othermoons]

Pluto's layers of atmosphere reminds me of an accordion, creating pressure when pushed in, and vacuum when pulled out. Such unique atmosphere yet the landscape looks so familiar. I am still in awe that we are able to see this far far away planet with such clarity. Amazing!

[quigley]

Fantastic image! I am so grateful to be living when this kind of space exploration is happening and we can "see" to such distances. Many of the mountains appear to be conical. If they are composed of water ice, how do they attain that shape? They resemble volcanic formations.

[William6]

The only thing you are missing is the definition of "Backlit": It means the object is lit from behind the object -- not from behind the observer. Easy mistake to make.

Got it. It was an easy mistake for me to make.

[bob brannan]

With all these wonderful features and an atmosphere.... How could Pluto not be called a Planet!

[tmcdanel]

Some day our great, great grandchildren, or so, will walk those plains and climb those mountains. I confess to a bit of envy. I wonder if there will be some sense of loneliness. Or perhaps there will be a MacDonalds.

This is really an impressive photo.

[tmcdanel]

With all these wonderful features and an atmosphere.... How could Pluto not be called a Planet!

I think it could be called an ice ball.

[neufer]

---

I recall seeing an image of Pluto as seen from the hubble showing light and dark patches. Now that we have these images, can ' we ' correlate the two /

10⁴ dwarf planet resolution improvement:

0.1 NH LORRI telescope 10⁵ times closer.

0.01 Dawn telescope 10⁶ times closer.

[MarkBour]

Fantastic image!

Particularly in the larger one that Geckzilla posted, you can actually see the progression of sunset as you move down the frame: the shadows get noticeably longer, so you see the progression across the surface of Pluto, rather than over time. I've never seen a similar photo of Earth, either because I'm ignorant, or because the curvature of Earth is much less, compared to its mountain ranges, so it might not be noticeable.

I agree, it looks like it is all ice. So, an 11,000-foot tall chunk of ice ... definitely the "large bag of ice" at the grocery store.

[BillJ]

The APOD image of Sep 18, 2015, "A Plutonian Landscape", is an unparalleled testimony to the spacecraft's namesake, "New Horizons"!! Surely this and other images posted by NASA on 9/17/2015 far exceed expectations of what Pluto's horizons would actually look like!! Congratulations to those responsible for naming the mission!!

[geckzilla]

Have you seen the shadows cast by mountainous features onto the low lying fog in the large mosaic? There's a cut out of it here. I think it's really cool. It's Pluto's version of a cloud.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newho ... ?id=370518

[Chris Peterson]

Have you seen the shadows cast by the low lying fog in the large mosaic? There's a cut out of it here. I think it's really cool. It's Pluto's version of a cloud.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newho ... ?id=370518

The shadows are cast by surface features onto fog, not cast by the fog. These are crepuscular rays seen from space.

[Remo]

With all these wonderful features and an atmosphere.... How could Pluto not be called a Planet!

I think it could be called an ice ball.

It may be a dwarf planet and an ice ball, but personally, I like describing it as a Kuiper Belt Planet.

[geckzilla]

Have you seen the shadows cast by the low lying fog in the large mosaic? There's a cut out of it here. I think it's really cool. It's Pluto's version of a cloud.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newho ... ?id=370518

The shadows are cast by surface features onto fog, not cast by the fog. These are crepuscular rays seen from space.

Thanks, that's what I meant to write.

[Remo]

The APOD image of Sep 18, 2015, "A Plutonian Landscape", is an unparalleled testimony to the spacecraft's namesake, "New Horizons"!! Surely this and other images posted by NASA on 9/17/2015 far exceed expectations of what Pluto's horizons would actually look like!! Congratulations to those responsible for naming the mission!!

Agreed, but I am waiting and hoping that somewhere in New Horizon's data banks is stored data that eventually will be downloaded to add color to that wonderful image of Pluto's horizon.

[othermoons]

Amen to that last post!

[neufer]

Such a fascinating and varied surface...a place to explore...

Looks like it was FLOWING at one time...that looks like shore line, that winding part in the middle.

• Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
  By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
  `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `Art sure no craven.
  Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
  Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
  Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'