After completing the flyby of Pluto on July 14 this year, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has continued to provide scientists with spectacular views of Pluto, its five moons as well as data packets.
With the help of the data provided by New Horizons, scientists have their first direct observation of Pluto's atmosphere, as reported by ars technica. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) of New Horizons has revealed stunning images of Pluto's atmosphere.
New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute stated, "My jaw was on the ground when I saw this first image of an alien atmosphere in the Kuiper Belt. It reminds us that exploration brings us more than just incredible discoveries-it brings incredible beauty."
The images provided by New Horizons reveal that Pluto's atmosphere comprised of two distinct layers of haze, formed when atmospheric hydrocarbons are blasted by ultraviolet light from the sun, that extend 130 kilometers above the planet's surface, contrary to earlier estimations by the scientists that the warm atmospheric temperatures would prevent the formation of haze above the 30 kilometer mark.
TechnoBuffalo reported that according to NASA, one layer is about 50 miles above the surface, while the other lies at an altitude of about 30 miles.
"The hazes detected in this image are a key element in creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto's surface its reddish hue," said Michael Summers, a New Horizons co-investigator from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
