01:20USA: NASA releases stunning new close-ups of Pluto
NASA revealed several stunning new images of Pluto during a briefing on the New Horizons journey at the NASA headquarters in Washington DC, Friday, proving that the planet has an atmosphere, and therefore a weather system.
Dr. Jim Green, the Planetary Science Division director at NASA HQ, stated that scientists had only had an opportunity to see about five percent of the data taken from the New Horizons journey, the images collected were significant for the scientific community. The first of the two new pictures visually prove, after 25 years, that Pluto has an atmosphere, and the fake coloured shot of Pluto shows the make-up of the planet.
His colleague, Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University described the images as almost bringing tears to the eyes of the atmospheric scientist on the team.
The New Horizon spacecraft passed within 12,500 kilometres (7,767 miles) of Pluto's surface on July 14, after it travelled for 10 years and 4,8 billion kilometres (three billion miles).
01:20NASA revealed several stunning new images of Pluto during a briefing on the New Horizons journey at the NASA headquarters in Washington DC, Friday, proving that the planet has an atmosphere, and therefore a weather system.
Dr. Jim Green, the Planetary Science Division director at NASA HQ, stated that scientists had only had an opportunity to see about five percent of the data taken from the New Horizons journey, the images collected were significant for the scientific community. The first of the two new pictures visually prove, after 25 years, that Pluto has an atmosphere, and the fake coloured shot of Pluto shows the make-up of the planet.
His colleague, Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University described the images as almost bringing tears to the eyes of the atmospheric scientist on the team.
The New Horizon spacecraft passed within 12,500 kilometres (7,767 miles) of Pluto's surface on July 14, after it travelled for 10 years and 4,8 billion kilometres (three billion miles).