Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. (Photo : NASA)
NASA's New Horizons probe will soon reach dwarf planet Pluto where it has taken photos of the planet and its moon, Charon in full color and recorded their wobbly motion as well into a video.
Pluto and Charon were captured from distance of roughly 30 million miles where the two planetary objects are observed at a few pixels wide however, these photographs reveal each of its distinct color and shape including their complex and bizarre orbital dance that occurs more or less every week.
Charon is just an eighth of Pluto's overall mass where the two alien worlds are locked in orbit due to their shared gravitational pull as both simultaneously rotate once every 6.4 days. Since New Horizons have already detected this strange orbit motion, it will now further examine why this pattern occurs along with many other Pluto mysteries.
This series of images comprise of a short video that were taken between May 29 to June 3 as one set of photos reveals a unprecedented view of Pluto and other set reveal views from the center of gravity of the dwarf planet and its tiny moon. Watch the animation here.
Scientists believe that Pluto's reddish brown hue may have originated from organic molecules dwelling on the planet's surface. As New Horizons is nearing the dwarf planet, scientists are seeing diverse and complex surface characteristics of Pluto.
On July 14, the probe will conduct its closest aproach of Pluto at 8,000 miles within the planet where it will capture Pluto's terrain for the first time ever.
According to project scientist Cathy Olkin from the Southwest Research Institute, these color observations are transforming into better views of scales of mere kilometers of Charon and Pluto. These color images will now help scientists find clues about their surfaces and reveal the mysteries of Pluto and its moons, happening in just a few weeks away.
