Nov 14, 2020
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Middle landed in #seligland. Shout out to #tholin 😍 - time to re:unite, yes?? . @s3lig @elinselig 💜 (på/i Katrineholm) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt5dVd-hBVM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ipdh462j4ea0
Pluto's Color Variations Finally Make Sense: Explained By Methane Ice In The Sun
“The ultraviolet sunlight ionizes methane, setting off a chain of events that creates tholins -- red-colored hydrocarbon compounds -- that get deposited at various locations. It's only where fresh, white methane snow covers the tholin-rich regions that a white color reappears. The next time we visit Pluto, this world's colorscape will appear very different.“
The New Horizons mission surprised everyone last July when it revealed Pluto to be a world that varied significantly in both terrain and color. Instead of a uniform, reddish-hued icy world, it was revealed to have mountains, craters, smooth plains, pitted regions and more, which range in color from white to yellow to deep red. This was initially a mystery, but subsequent analysis has revealed that Pluto's atmosphere and outer surface consists of a great many volatile molecules, including water, nitrogen and methane. While water ice and nitrogen ice simply sublimate, methane undergoes a complex interaction with ultraviolet light, resulting in the production of tholins, which turn the surface red where they're deposited. The story is still unfolding, but freshly snow-capped regions and pictures of the entire world support this idea.
Red-faced Pluto Full of Surprises
Red-faced Pluto Full of Surprises
New Horizons scientists combined the latest black and white map of Pluto’s surface features (left) with a map of the planet’s colors (right) to produce a detailed color portrait of the planet’s northern hemisphere (center). The color is what you’d see if you were riding along with New Horizons. “Ralph” is a visible/infrared imager. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
Hey, Mars, you’ve got company. Looks…
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