The first infrared Pluto data from New Horizons has been returned , and it reveals two interesting determination . The first is that piddle - ice is more far-flung across the airfoil than thought , and the 2d shows sunlight scattering in the dwarf planet ’s atmosphere .
The data was gather by the Ralph / Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array ( LEISA ) pawn on panel New Horizons , used during the closest approach on July 14 , 2015 . Thewater - ice datawas hoard by two LEISA scan of Pluto , taken from a length of about 108,000 kilometers ( 67,000 miles ) .
An initial map , shown above on the left field , picture strictly detections of water - ice on the surface , by analysing the spectrum . It register only a smattering of water supply - ice because the spectra is mask by methane ice , so only extremely dense area show up .
On the right , all types of ice on the aerofoil are mapped together . While this only shows ice types that LEISA could model for , it does show a greater bedcover of water - ice than had been thought from initial findings inOctober 2015 .
Notably , regions such as Sputnik Planum ( the big “ heart ” to the right ) remain lacking of water - ice . This could be because it is covered by big amounts of other ices – methane , N and carbon dioxide – and thus not detectable by LEISA in this dataset .
The same instrument was also used to create a fascinating new view ofPluto ’s atmosphere , observed by New Horizons as it looked back on the dwarf planet as it flew by .
Future data point from LEISA will include the miserable portion of the standard atmosphere , which is missing from this image . NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
Taken from 180,000 kilometers ( 112,000 mile ) out , the range shows a risque band around Pluto , due to sunlight scattering as it score haze particles in the ambiance . The clean fleck are where sunshine has bounced off the surface . The brightest patch , at about the 2 O’Clock position , is a part calledCthulhu Regio .
Haze on Pluto is thought to be due to sunlight hitting methane and other corpuscle , producing a photochemical smog that include hydrocarbons such as acetylene and ethylene . Although these hydrocarbon are humble , a fraction of a micrometer wide , they are plentiful enough to dispel sunlight in the air .
Data from New Horizons will continue return to Earth throughout this year , and we can expect more interesting findings like these along the way .
