The Other Shoe: Lost in Space - PLUTO

Pluto in High Definition – New Horizons

¹(Pluto in High Definition – New Horizons)

Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. My Dear Shoevians I greatly appreciate your support in continuing to visit and; read, view, like, share and enjoy my works. Due to my damaged laptop computer (My writing computer of the past seven years) my ability to write and publish articles on a regular-to-frequent basis has been limited. Today, Saturday, I was allowed access to a neighbor's computer and I have spent the past five hours working to catch-up and write and publish a couple of articles. This is the second, and last, article I will be able to write and publish until sometime next week. However if you, My Dear Shoevians, have showed your support and made donations to my PayPal account (enzomatrix@earthlink.net @ PayPal) I will have my laptop repaired as expeditiously as possible and return to my frequent publication schedule. Today, I have to share, another edition of 'Lost in Space – Pluto – New Horizons'. Today's images are (mostly) High-Definition and the very best images of Pluto that I have ever seen!

The image, above, is called 'The Rich Color Variations of Pluto'. This image was taken on July 14^th, 2015 by by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC) aboard the 'New Horizons' spacecraft as it leaves Pluto forever. As with all the images I publish at all four of my blog locations, if you click on the image it will take you to a full definition/full screen version of this incredible image of Pluto. All in all, today, I will be sharing with you, My Dear Shoevians, SEVEN brand new High-Definition images of Pluto taken by the 'New Horizons' spacecraft. Truthfully? I really did not think I would be able to provide (to you, My Dear Shoevians) any editions of 'Lost in Space' or 'The Mars Report' until my computer was repaired or replaced. Little did I know that I would meet a new resident of my apartment complex that liked my blog(s) so much that he offered to allow me to use one of his computers for my work. Thank you David!

Pluto’s Varied Terrain

²(Pluto’s Varied Terrain)

The image, above, was taken just before the closest approach to Pluto on July 14^th, 2015. This is one of the sharpest images that has ever been taken of the surface of Pluto. The image reveals details down to scales of 270 meters. This image is of a 75 mile square area showing textured plains surrounding two isolated ice mountains. The ice mountains are high in copper resulting in the rust color of the outcrops of minerals.

Perplexing Pluto New ‘Snakeskin’ Image and More from New Horizons

³(Perplexing Pluto New ‘Snakeskin’ Image and More from New Horizons)

Our next image, above, was taken near the terminator of Pluto. The terminator is the line that separates night from day. Called “snakeskin” by the New Horizons team members, this surface geology is unfamiliar to all. This is what they had to say about this all new geology:

“It’s a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles,” said William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead from Washington University in St. Louis. “It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology. This’ll really take time to figure out; maybe it’s some combination of internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto’s faint sunlight.”⁴ This image was taken on July 14^th, 2015 and downlinked to NASA/JPL (here on Earth) on September 19^th, 2015. The image was taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and covers an area roughly 330 miles (530 kilometers) across at the bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa . Honestly, My Dear Shoevians, it really does look more like Dragon Scales than surface geology of a exo-planet. Scientists are not sure just how these geologic surface formations were created, but the think that it is a combination of “internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto’s faint sunlight”. We will only find out when we land men on Pluto and begin sub-surface exploration.

Tartarus Dorsa

⁵(Tartarus Dorsa)

The image, above, is a broad-area view of the land mass Tartarus Dorsa. At about three o'clock we see the area of the close-up pictured in the next image, above. This way we see the close-up of the area, and a broad-area image of the whole terminator line on the surface of Pluto.

Sputnik Planum

⁶(Sputnik Planum)

For our next image, My Dear Shoevians, we have the ' Sputnik Planum' area of Pluto. This area is located, roughly, 300 miles to the east of the areas pictured in the two previous images. All of these images were taken during New Horizons' closest approach on July 14^th, 2015 and downlinked to Earth just days ago on September 19th-20^th, 2015. I have to tell you, My Dear Shoevians, I just couldn't have timed the writing and publication of this edition of 'Lost in Space' if I had a schedule of downlinks from NASA/JPL. NO, I do not have such a schedule, I just check on all the NSA/JPL web sites several times a week and just go lucky! Although, the timing of barrowing a computer just in time to download the images and write the article... is just uncanny.

Mosaic of High-Resolution Images of Pluto

⁷(Mosaic of High-Resolution Images of Pluto)

Now, My Dear Shoevians, if you look at about 7 O'clock on this image you can see the ' Sputnik Planum'. ' Sputnik Planum' is the area of the close-up in the previous image shared here, and now we step back and have a larger area view. Looking very closely, you can clearly see the small island out-crop that is featured in the color image. Again, this image was taken on July 14^th, 2015 and downlinked between September 4^th and 5^th, 2015. Yes, My Dear Shoevians, I have worked hard to stage these images so that you see the close-up (first), then the larger-area-view in the nest image of the series. Unfortunately, My Dear Shoevians, I am running out of time... on this borrowed computer, so I am going to rush the end of this article. I apologize for this... I just want to make sure that I have this article, and images, uploaded before I run out of time.

Closer Look Majestic Mountains and Frozen Plains

⁸(Closer Look Majestic Mountains and Frozen Plains)

Now, My Dear Shoevians, I really wish that I could have found a color version of this image. Seriously this image, for me, is breath-taking! For the very first time, in human history, we are seeing fog over mountain peaks on another planet!!! This image was taken, by the New Horizons spacecraft, just as it had finished its closest approach on July 14^th, 2015. The spacecraft looked backward, like over its shoulder, back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon.

“The smooth expanse of the informally named Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high, including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on the skyline. The backlighting highlights more than a dozen layers of haze in Pluto’s tenuous but distended atmosphere. The image was taken from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) to Pluto; the scene is 230 miles (380 kilometers) across.”⁹

Global Mosaic of Pluto in True Color

¹⁰(Global Mosaic of Pluto in True Color)

Now, My Dear Shoevians, above is a global mosaic of Pluto's surface presented in true color.

“Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this sharper global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away from Pluto, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers). That’s twice the resolution of the single-image view captured on July 13 and revealed at the approximate time of New Horizons’ July 14 closest approach.”¹¹

I find it amazing that both Pluto and Mars are 'Red Planets'. I really had no idea that Pluto would end up being red in color. Our next image is of the same global mosaic, only presented in false color.

Pluto Dazzles in False Color

¹²(Pluto Dazzles in False Color)

The above image is the very same images as the previous image. However, during the processing stage NASA/JPL used a 'False-color' imaging filter to give us more visually appealing image. Here is the information, from the NSA/JPL web site, explaining the difference between the two versions of this same image.

“Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view. The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers).”¹³

The Rich Color Variations of Pluto

¹⁴(The Rich Color Variations of Pluto)

And with that image, My Dear Shoevians, we bring this article to an end with the exact same image as we began. If you look at the center of the image, looking left and down, you can see the Heart of Pluto! Where the rugged mountain outcrops meet the frozen plains you can see the heart shape... the heart shape than nobody had ever seen until New Horizons showed mankind the dwarf planet Pluto like we have never seen it before. I would like to thank David, again, for his kind lending of his computer so that I might be able to write and publish this article.

For all of you that have not tuned into The Other Shoe for some time? My writing computer has broken down. The video adapter of the laptop has stop working and made my laptop writing computer unuseable. It still boots up... it can run... but I can no longer use the exterior monitor that sits on my bed-side desk. I can no longer use any 3D imaging programs of 3D games or animation of 3D publication. As well, if I continue to use the laptop (in its current condition) I run the real risk of doing more damage and perhaps damaging the computer beyond repair. I have written and published two articles about this problem, and my complete and total lack of financial means to pay for the much needed repairs.

My Dear Shoevians, I would like to ask all of you to drop by and read the linked article 'Computer Repair PROOF – Please Assist Me!'. In this article I explain what is wrong, give the estimates for repair I have already received, and share information on how to help! I am accepting donations via my PayPal account (enzomatrix@earthlink.net). PLEASE check out the article, in it I share the proof that the problem is real and my need is real. I apologize... but I really want to get back to writing and publishing on a regular basis... and I cannot do this with a malfunctioning computer. Check out the article... take a moment and think... and PLEASE consider helping me out and supporting my efforts to repair my most favorite computer in the world. I have written over 700 articles, two novels, business cards, newsletters and brochures all on this one laptop computer.

PLEASE HELP.

Adieu!

Thank you!