PIA19951: Flyover Sputnik Planum


Flyover Sputnik Planum

Caption:

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Images downloaded from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft (through Sept. 11, 2015) were stitched together and rendered on a sphere to make this flyover "movie." This animation, made with images from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), begins with a low-altitude look at the informally named Norgay Montes, flies northward over the boundary between informally named Sputnik Planum and Cthulhu Regio, turns, and drifts slowly east. During the animation, the altitude of the observer rises until it is about 10 times higher to show about 80% of the hemisphere New Horizons flew closest to on July 14, 2015.

Background Info:

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Pluto
System Pluto
Target Type Dwarf Planet
Mission New Horizons
Instrument Host New Horizons
Host Type Flyby Spacecraft
Instrument Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Mountain, Movie, Visual
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2015-09-21
Date in Caption 2015-07-14
Image Credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19951
Identifier PIA19951