Capture the cosmos > Solar system > Dig deeper (cont'd) > Tales of: Pluto's changing surface

Tales of ... Pluto's changing surface See image below

Our solar system has glamorous planets, ringed Saturn, multicolored Jupiter, and ruddy red Mars. But one of the best recognized and popular (for the public) objects is tiny and distant Pluto, which lies on the dim outer frontier of the solar system.

Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been a speck of light in the largest ground-based telescopes. But NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has now mapped the dwarf planet in never-before-seen detail. The new map is so good, astronomers have even been able to detect changes on the dwarf planet's surface by comparing Hubble images taken in 1994 with the newer images taken in 2002-2003. The task is as challenging as trying to see the markings on a soccer ball 40 miles away.

Hubble's view isn't sharp enough to see craters or mountains, if they exist on the surface, but Hubble reveals a complex-looking and variegated world with white, dark-orange, and charcoal-black terrain. The overall color is believed to be a result of ultraviolet radiation from the distant Sun breaking up methane that is present on Pluto's surface, leaving behind a dark molasses-colored, carbon-rich residue. (Continued >>)

Pluto's surface is seen from three angles. The center disk has a mysterious bright spot that is rich in carbon monoxide frost.

Capture the cosmos > Solar system > Dig deeper (cont'd) > Tales of: Pluto's changing surface