The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons
Abstract
The Pluto system was recently explored by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, making closest approach on 14 July 2015. Pluto's surface displays diverse landforms, terrain ages, albedos, colors, and composition gradients. Evidence is found for a water-ice crust, geologically young surface units, surface ice convection, wind streaks, volatile transport, and glacial flow. Pluto's atmosphere is highly extended, with trace hydrocarbons, a global haze layer, and a surface pressure near 10 microbars. Pluto's diverse surface geology and long-term activity raise fundamental questions about how small planets remain active many billions of years after formation. Pluto's large moon Charon displays tectonics and evidence for a heterogeneous crustal composition, its north pole displays puzzling dark terrain. Small satellites Hydra and Nix have higher albedos than expected.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1510.07704,
title = {The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons},
author = {S. A. Stern and F. Bagenal and K. Ennico and G. R. Gladstone and W. M. Grundy and W. B. McKinnon and J. M. Moore and C. B. Olkin and J. R. Spencer and H. A. Weaver and L. A. Young and T. Andert and J. Andrews and M. Banks and B. Bauer and J. Bauman and O. S. Barnouin and P. Bedini and K. Beisser and R. A. Beyer and S. Bhaskaran and R. P. Binzel and E. Birath and M. Bird and D. J. Bogan and A. Bowman and V. J. Bray and M. Brozovic and C. Bryan and M. R. Buckley and M. W. Buie and B. J. Buratti and S. S. Bushman and A. Calloway and B. Carcich and A. F. Cheng and S. Conard and C. A. Conrad and J. C. Cook and D. P. Cruikshank and O. S. Custodio and C. M. Dalle Ore and C. Deboy and Z. J. B. Dischner and P. Dumont and A. M. Earle and H. A. Elliott and J. Ercol and C. M. Ernst and T. Finley and S. H. Flanigan and G. Fountain and M. J. Freeze and T. Greathouse and J. L. Green and Y. Guo and M. Hahn and D. P. Hamilton and S. A. Hamilton and J. Hanley and A. Harch and H. M. Hart and C. B. Hersman and A. Hill and M. E. Hill and D. P. Hinson and M. E. Holdridge and M. Horanyi and A. D. Howard and C. J. A. Howett and C. Jackman and R. A. Jacobson and D. E. Jennings and J. A. Kammer and H. K. Kang and D. E. Kaufmann and P. Kollmann and S. M. Krimigis and D. Kusnierkiewicz and T. R. Lauer and J. E. Lee and K. L. Lindstrom and I. R. Linscott and C. M. Lisse and A. W. Lunsford and V. A. Mallder and N. Martin and D. J. McComas and R. L. McNutt and D. Mehoke and T. Mehoke and E. D. Melin and M. Mutchler and D. Nelson and F. Nimmo and J. I. Nunez and A. Ocampo and W. M. Owen and M. Paetzold and B. Page and A. H. Parker and J. W. Parker and F. Pelletier and J. Peterson and N. Pinkine and M. Piquette and S. B. Porter and S. Protopapa and J. Redfern and H. J. Reitsema and D. C. Reuter and J. H. Roberts and S. J. Robbins and G. Rogers and D. Rose and K. Runyon and K. D. Retherford and M. G. Ryschkewitsch and P. Schenk and R. Schindhelm and B. Sepan and M. R. Showalter and K. N. Singer and M. Soluri and D. Stanbridge and A. J. Steffl and D. F. Strobel and T. Stryk and M. E. Summers and J. R. Szalay and M. Tapley and A. Taylor and H. Taylor and H. B. Throop and C. C. C. Tsang and G. L. Tyler and O. M. Umurhan and A. J. Verbiscer and M. H. Versteeg and M. Vincent and R. Webbert and S. Weidner and G. E. Weigle and O. L. White and K. Whittenburg and B. G. Williams and K. Williams and S. Williams and W. W. Woods and A. M. Zangari and E. Zirnstein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.07704},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
8 pages - Initial Science paper from NASA's New Horizons Pluto Encounter