NASA is planning to map Pluto – Sight

NASA maps the surface of Pluto using the device images New Horizons, on July 14 will approach the planet at a distance of 12.5 thousand kilometers.

NASA reported that the photographs ” visible light and dark areas of different shapes. ” Mapmaker drew attention to the fact that “the most dark areas on Pluto concentrated near its equator,” Tass reports.

«The map is an important tool for scientists who can afford to decipher the mysterious combination of light and dark spots on the surface of Pluto,” – noted in a press release, the US space agency.

The most dark area near the equator, which reaches a length of about 3 thousand. Km, scientists have given the code name “Keith.” To the right of his “head” is the lightest of the bugs on the surface areas of a length of about 1.6 thousand. Km.

«Perhaps this is an area where there are a relatively young deposits of frozen gases – methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide, – noted the scientists. – Further to the right, as viewed along the equator, the four visible darker areas, each of which extends for several hundred kilometers. In the area of ​​the “tail” is also a dark area within which an object can be seen an annular diameter of about 350 kilometers. ”

According to the researchers, “at first glance, it resembles a crater formed by meteorite or an eruption.”

«However, experts do not undertake to judge with certainty about this and other objects on the surface of Pluto until then, until you have obtained a clearer picture,” – said the expert.

As noted in this regard an employee of the Southwestern Research Center in Boulder (Colorado), John Spencer, “is easy to imagine the familiar form of the study of this cluster of dark and light areas, but it is still too early to say that they represent. ”

Let’s remind, New Horizons was launched in January 2006. In January this year, the machine began its journey to Pluto.