Pluto - A Glimpse of the Underworld

Pluto - The best full image obtained
by New Horizons. Credit: NASA

"The three brothers battled the Titans for a claim of the cosmos. To Zeus (Jupiter) was the sky, to Poseidon (Neptune) was the sea, and to Hades (Pluto) was the underworld." - Apollodorus

After a nine year journey, we have arrived! New Horizons flew by Pluto and is collecting images and conducting science. We are lucky to be witnessing, in an age and time where information is instantaneously available for us, high resolution images of a mysterious planetary system that has been the subject of debate for decades.

Pluto and its moon Charon as New Horizons was approaching the flyby. Credit: NASA

Pluto's atmosphere captured as New Horizons passes it and looks behind. (False color)

A mountain range on the surface of Pluto. Icy planes and cratered surface surrounds the mountains.

High resolution global mosaic of Pluto.

A comparison between images of Pluto obtained by New Horizons 
and the Hubble Space Telescope. Notice the similarities. 
Credit: NASA; (Picture combined and labeled by S. Hariri)

Charon, Pluto's moon. Note the lack of
impact craters; indicating a young surface.
Credit: NASA

There will be a lot of information and discoveries made about Pluto and its moons. So far the size of Pluto has been measured with better accuracy, and that measurement makes Pluto the biggest object in the Kuiper Belt. It is also quite evident that Pluto had (or still has) a geologically active surface. In addition, Charon shows evidence of a young surface that may have had recent geological activity. There will be various abstruse surface features that will elude the experts, but one thing is certain and that is we already know more about Pluto today than we did a week ago, and we will continue to learn more about it as the data gets analyzed. 

This is yet another milestone in human achievement, and it stands to show what we are capable of doing if we focus our time and energy to expand our knowledge and explore the unknown. When we strive to reach for things that are greater than ourselves, we become humbled by our achievements. 

A range of icy mountains on the surface of Pluto.
Credit: NASA

After a nine year journey, New Horizons has finally entered the underworld. It was greeted by the guardian of this dark and arcane realm; Pluto. The mythology is somewhat fitting, as Pluto marks the borders of the Kuiper Belt, borders that New Horizons has now crossed in an effort to continue this long journey of exploration. I wonder what discoveries await...