Although Pluto is no longer considered as a full-sized planet within our planetary system
it still holds a special place in the solar system the ninth farthest planet from the sun was demoted
and reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 but that did not in any way diminish the fascination
astronomers and scientists have had for the planet for years the plethora of stunning images
and discoveries from the new horizons mission have brought us closer to the former planet than
we've ever been before welcome to Factnomenal and in today's video we will be taking you on
a journey to see some of the most breathtaking images ever captured of the icy dwarf planet
exploring Pluto and beyond the new horizons mission is the first of nasa's new frontiers
mission probes all of which are designed to explore a wide range of destinations within
the solar system what was initially a project meant to be funded way back in 2001 kept getting
pushed forward and owing to nasa's tight budget it didn't quite make the cut it wasn't until
after the planetary science decadal survey that it was placed on top priority and the mission was
finally reinstated on January 19th 2006 after a few delayed launch attempts the new horizon
spacecraft was launched on an atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral air force station in Florida after
doing its flyby of its first target Jupiter the spacecraft was even made to go into hibernation
mode to conserve energy to lessen the chance of breakages and just doing occasional checks
it was in the year 2015 that the spacecraft finally reached Pluto and its moon charon
and also visited other worlds within the Kuiper belt the data and images obtained from the new
horizons spacecraft finally gave scientists the much needed insight about the dwarf planet
portrait of a planet nasa's new horizon spacecraft captured one of the most breathtaking images of
the planet it is by far the most accurate natural color image of the planet as a result of the
refined calibration of data and images combining blue red and infrared images taken by the new
horizons multi-spectral visible imaging camera Pluto surface showcases a remarkable variety
of colors as the new horizon spacecraft zipped towards Pluto and its moons it captured images
with all of pluto's unique features on display from pale blue yellow orange and deep red hues
you can see the different landforms each with their distinct colors you can even see the bright
expense of Pluto's icy nitrogen and methane-rich area known as Sputnik Planitia or sputnik plenum
the white-colored basin that forms half of the Tombaugh Regio is a smooth plane of nitrogen
ice without any impact craters on its surface which means it is a relatively new and young
feature with astronomers and scientists saying it was formed as a result of an object perhaps
a giant meteorite slamming into the dwarf planet studies are now suggesting that this could be a
clue to whether Pluto's heart is secretly hiding a subsurface ocean the dynamic duo with five moons
in its system it's a whole little world of its own Charon, Styx, Nyx, Kerberos and Hydra are all
Pluto satellites and out of them all Charon is the largest being nearly half the size of the planet
interestingly enough it was named after Charon from Greek mythology who would ferry the souls
to the underworld it was only fitting as Pluto had been named after the god of the underworld
Pluto and Charon are a pair unlike any other being so similar in size they are a bit of
point in space that lies in between them much like the orbits of a binary system the same
surfaces of Pluto and charon are always facing each other a rare phenomenon called mutual title
locking because of this both Pluto and its moon Charon are referred to as double dwarf planet
or double planet in the color enhanced image captured by the new horizon spacecraft you can
however see the striking differences between the two worlds where you can see Charon's polar red
terrain you can also see Pluto's equatorial red terrain the image is taken by the multi-spectral
visual imaging camera or mvic in infrared show the brilliant duo as never seen before
pitted patterns this image taken by the telescopic camera on the spacecraft shows the true intricate
pattern of what appears to be pits all across Pluto and its heart-shaped region Tombaugh Regio
there has been a lot of debate and speculation over how these cavitations were caused with
some scientists suggesting that they could be a combination of ice fracturing and then evaporating
because there are little to no impact craters in the area they are also led to believe that
the pits couldn't have formed too long ago the alignment and pattern gives us a clue about true
ice flow and exchange of nitrogen and other more volatile materials between the surface
and its atmosphere the stunning high resolution image was taken when the spacecraft passed within
5934 miles of the planet's surface in the southeast corner you can even spot the giant
ice sheet verizon sputnik planet on the upper left quadrant of the image you can see the
distinct border between the smooth sputnik plenum region and the pitted area with a series of hills
from Pluto with love although we no longer count Pluto as a planet in our solar system
it doesn't look like Pluto has too many hard feelings and seems to only have love to give
the most intriguing thing on Pluto is the heart-shaped region discovered when the
new horizons mission took close-up images of the planet and revealed that the planet isn't
quite the barren land we once thought it was dubbed as Tombaugh Regio after Clyde Tombaugh
who first discovered the planet Pluto's little heart region is in fact covered with nitrogen ice
new research has now shown that the heart actually rules the entire atmospheric circulation much
like a human heart rules the circulation in our bodies so how exactly does it do that according
to new research during the daytime a layer of the nitrogen ice which covers the region warms
up and quickly turns into vapor at night time this very vapor then condenses and forms into ice each
sequence is almost like a heartbeat pumping cold icy winds around the planet this entire process
sets off winds in the westerly direction which is the opposite of the dwarf planet's eastward spin
thereby making the entire atmosphere spin backwards now that's totally epic bladed terrains
pluto's bladed mountain terrains are unlike anything that has ever been seen on other
planets in the solar system the image shows just how strikingly beautiful they really are
it seems like something straight out of a sci-fi movie new horizons telescope camera was able to
capture just how rugged Pluto's surface is as well as the dozens upon dozens of atmospheric
layers that it has even stretching into orbital altitudes the wide-angled image captured at 11 000
miles from Pluto shows the numerous deep layers of the cold coward planet's atmosphere meanwhile the
jagged landforms of the surface of the planet are made up almost entirely of methane ice the
bladed terrain consists of tall deposits of this methane ice and due to the climate variations of
the planet this ice tends to evaporate through a process of sublimation completely skipping out on
becoming a liquid that's why you see tall deposits of the methane as opposed to just blobs of ice on
the ground Pluto has a complex topography and was quite misunderstood for a long time although much
of it still remains a mystery data from the mission has helped bridge many of those gaps
volcanoes on Pluto another startling revelation that came from the data
collected by the new horizons mission was the existence of cryo volcanoes on the dwarf planet
which had scientists immediately buzzing the camera aboard the spacecraft was able to capture
the highest resolution color view of two potential cryo volcanoes two towering mountains have been
observed by nasa right mons standing at thirteen thousand feet and picardmonds which is the same
size as Popocatopetal just outside Mexico city at nearly 18 000 feet both the peaks have large
holes in their summits which were likely formed when material erupted from underneath the surface
what really has everyone so interested is that if it is in fact a volcano
it would be the largest feature of its kind ever discovered in the outer solar system
there is only sparse distribution of red material which raises eyebrows as to why it isn't more
widespread along with the fact that there is only one identified impact crater on right mods
which could hinder the fact that the surface could be relatively new
as opposed to volcanoes on earth that expel molten rock Pluto's cryovolcanoes would more than likely
be expelling large amounts of water ice frozen nitrogen methane and ammonia no wonder they call
Pluto earth's cold little brother new horizons did not capture any eruptions from either of
the two so for now it remains just a very likely hypothesis with Mons data pointing in its favor
feeling blue taken from when the new horizon spacecraft was about 120,000 miles from Pluto
this image is the highest resolution color shot of the dwarf planet's receding crescent
it highlights the otherworldly beauty of the planet against the dark expense of space
the atmospheric layers of blue haze which seem to dominate the image is what scientists believe
to be a photochemical smog which may form when sunlight interacts with methane and
other molecules together producing a mixture of hydrocarbons just like it would happen on
earth the hydrocarbons accumulate into small haze particles a fraction of a micrometer in size which
then scatter blue light giving it that blue haze the picture is also extremely special as it was
captured just as the new horizon spacecraft was bidding farewell to the little planet
the perfect goodbye marking the accomplishment of a goal which should have been impossible
and was nearly 26 years in the making as of now the new horizon spacecraft is still exploring
our solar system and on April 17th 2021 it reached a distance of 50 astronomical units from the sun
the images and discoveries from the mission have only just proved more strongly
that planets in our solar system are far too complex and compelling to not study further
when it comes to the icy dwarf planet we have barely only begun to scratch the surface and we
cannot wait to learn more about what Pluto has to offer so what do you think what is your favorite
thing about Pluto tell us in the comments don't forget to smash the like button and subscribe to
Factnomenal for more space videos like this thanks for watching we'll see you next time