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New Horizons turning up gold mine of information on Pluto

MAR 18, 2016

DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029670

Physics Today

Los Angeles Times : Despite their distance from the Sun, both Pluto and its moon Charon have experienced more geological activity than scientists had expected. Since its flyby last year, the New Horizons spacecraft has been sending back high-resolution images of both worlds and of four other Pluto satellites—Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Five papers published this week in Science interpret the data collected about surface features and atmospheres. Both Pluto and Charon appear to have a very complex geology, dating back 4 billion years, and Pluto may still be geologically active. So far, New Horizons has transmitted less than half of all the data it collected during the historic flyby.

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