Geological Society of America

T48 Friends of Hoth: Satellites of the Outer Solar System

Sunday, 25 September 2016
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 201

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT PLUTO FROM NEW HORIZONS MISSION

Paper number: T48-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:35 PM – 1:55 PM

Authors

Leslie A. Young Presenting Author
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO
Kimberly Ennico
Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA
Ivan Linscott
Stanford, CA
Jeffrey M. Moore
Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA
John R. Spencer
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO
William B. McKinnon
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Saint Louis, MO
William M. Grundy
Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ
G. Randall Gladstone
Space Science & Engineering Division, San Antonio, TX
S. Alan Stern
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO
Harold A. Weaver
Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD
Cathy Olkin
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO

Abstract

The New Horizons mission to the Pluto system flew a high-resolution panchromatic imager (LORRI), a wide-field panchromatic and color imager (MVIC), infrared (LEISA) and ultraviolet (Alice) spectrometers, a radio experiment (REX), and two plasma instruments (PEPSSI and SWAP), which have revolutionized our understanding of Pluto. We now know Pluto to be less dense than other comparably sized KBOs, based on six months of astrometry (for the mass), and imaging and occultations (for the radius). LORRI, MVIC, and LEISA show a heterogeneous surface at all longitudes, with darker, CH₄-poor areas near the equator. At the longitudes of the encounter hemisphere, Pluto's surface shows an astonishing diversity of landforms, including rough northern uplands, scarps and crevasses, smooth N2 plains, craters both bare of volatiles and infilled, and multiple forms of mountains. The combined power of this suite of instruments allows us to investigate the geology not only by high resolution imaging, but also with topography, scattering properties at visible and radio wavelengths, how composition maps to landforms, the interaction of the surface with the lowest levels in the Pluto's N₂ atmosphere, the likely role of the atmosphere in photochemical processing, and the implications for the loss of Pluto's surface volatiles over billions of years.

This work was supported by NASA's New Horizons project.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-286187

© Copyright 2016 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.