ALBERT

Description: The New Horizons spacecraft mapped colors and infrared spectra across the encounter hemispheres of Pluto and Charon. The volatile methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen ices that dominate Pluto's surface have complicated spatial distributions resulting from sublimation, condensation, and glacial flow acting over seasonal and geological time scales. Pluto's water ice "bedrock" was also mapped, with isolated outcrops occurring in a variety of settings. Pluto's surface exhibits complex regional color diversity associated with its distinct provinces. Charon's color pattern is simpler, dominated by neutral low latitudes and a reddish northern polar region. Charon's near-infrared spectra reveal highly localized areas with strong ammonia absorption tied to small craters with relatively fresh-appearing impact ejecta.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Grundy, W M -- Binzel, R P -- Buratti, B J -- Cook, J C -- Cruikshank, D P -- Dalle Ore, C M -- Earle, A M -- Ennico, K -- Howett, C J A -- Lunsford, A W -- Olkin, C B -- Parker, A H -- Philippe, S -- Protopapa, S -- Quirico, E -- Reuter, D C -- Schmitt, B -- Singer, K N -- Verbiscer, A J -- Beyer, R A -- Buie, M W -- Cheng, A F -- Jennings, D E -- Linscott, I R -- Parker, J Wm -- Schenk, P M -- Spencer, J R -- Stansberry, J A -- Stern, S A -- Throop, H B -- Tsang, C C C -- Weaver, H A -- Weigle, G E 2nd -- Young, L A -- New Horizons Science Team -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Mar 18;351(6279):aad9189. doi: 10.1126/science.aad9189.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA. w.grundy@lowell.edu. ; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011, USA. ; Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA. ; NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. ; NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. ; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. ; Universite Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, F-38000 Grenoble, France. ; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. ; Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA. ; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA. ; Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX 77058, USA. ; Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. ; Planetary Science Institute, Mumbai, India. ; Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 28510, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26989260" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schmitt, C B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1979 May 4;204(4392):493.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17819951" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈p〉We report the detection of ammonia (NH〈sub〉3〈/sub〉) on Pluto’s surface in spectral images obtained with the New Horizons spacecraft that show absorption bands at 1.65 and 2.2 μm. The ammonia signature is spatially coincident with a region of past extensional tectonic activity (Virgil Fossae) where the presence of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O ice is prominent. Ammonia in liquid water profoundly depresses the freezing point of the mixture. Ammoniated ices are believed to be geologically short lived when irradiated with ultraviolet photons or charged particles. Thus, the presence of NH〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 on a planetary surface is indicative of a relatively recent deposition or possibly through exposure by some geological process. In the present case, the areal distribution is more suggestive of cryovolcanic emplacement, however, adding to the evidence for ongoing geological activity on Pluto and the possible presence of liquid water at depth today.〈/p〉