NASA Releases Incredible New Images Of Pluto

By John A. Heatherly

These high-resolution images are incredible and much more is to be learned about Pluto’s icy surface!

Video Below:

DailyMail has more…

Pluto’s landscape is far more varied than scientists could have ever imagined.

The latest high-resolution images of the dwarf planet show this diversity in unprecedented detail, highlighting what appears to be snake-skin-like patterns on its surface.

The clearest image of this was taken near the line that separates day from night, capturing a vast rippling landscape of strange, aligned linear ridges that Nasa said astonished New Horizons team members.

‘It’s a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles,’ said William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead from Washington University in St. Louis.

‘It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology. This’ll really take time to figure out; maybe it’s some combination of internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto’s faint sunlight.’

Scientists aren’t sure what causes the pattern, but theories include the impact of plate tectonics rippling the surface, or frozen gasses that are released when surface temperatures increase.

The ‘snakeskin’ image of Pluto’s surface is just one tantalising piece of data New Horizons sent back in recent days.

The …read more

Source:: Patriot Outdoor News