2016
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad9189
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Surface compositions across Pluto and Charon

Abstract: The New Horizons spacecraft mapped colors and infrared spectra across the encounter hemispheres of Pluto and Charon. The volatile ices CH 4 , CO, and N 2 , that dominate Pluto's surface, have complicated spatial distributions resulting from sublimation, condensation, and glacial flow acting over seasonal and geological timescales. Pluto's H 2 O ice "bedrock" is also mapped, with isolated outcrops occurring in a variety of settings. Pluto's surface exhibits complex regional color diversity associated with its d… Show more

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Cited by 270 publications
(251 citation statements)
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“…Hence water-ice blocks can float in solid N 2 or CO, but not in solid CH 4 . Water ice has been identified in the rugged mountains that surround SP 3 , and blocks and other debris shed from the mountains at SP's periphery appear to be floating 2 ; moreover, glacial inflow appears to carry along water-ice blocks, and these blocks almost exclusively congregate at the margins of the cells/polygons, consistent with being dragged to the downwelling limbs of convective cells (Fig. 2a).…”
mentioning
confidence: 78%
“…Hence water-ice blocks can float in solid N 2 or CO, but not in solid CH 4 . Water ice has been identified in the rugged mountains that surround SP 3 , and blocks and other debris shed from the mountains at SP's periphery appear to be floating 2 ; moreover, glacial inflow appears to carry along water-ice blocks, and these blocks almost exclusively congregate at the margins of the cells/polygons, consistent with being dragged to the downwelling limbs of convective cells (Fig. 2a).…”
mentioning
confidence: 78%
“…The term tholins was introduced by Sagan and Khare () to name the “brown, sometimes sticky, residue” they produced in laboratory at Cornell University by irradiating with various sources of energy a mixture of the cosmically abundant gases CH 4 , C 2 H 6 , NH 3 , H 2 O, HCHO, and H 2 S. The definition was later expanded to include many other components produced from different mixtures and even by irradiation of ices. It now seems that tholin‐like materials are present in many bodies in the solar system: on Pluto (Grundy et al, ), Charon (Grundy et al, ), comets (McDonald et al, ; Stern et al, ), Triton (McDonald et al, ) and, of course, Titan (Sagan et al, ).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Among the most striking observations of Pluto, made by the cameras aboard New Horizons during the July 2015 flyby, is a planetary‐scale multikilometer‐thick equatorial normalN2‐rich ice sheet (mixed with small amounts of CO and CH4), covering the floor of the Sputnik Planitia basin that extends between latitudes 25°S and 50°N at a level 3 km below the surrounding terrains (Grundy et al, ; Stern et al, ; Schenk et al, ). Highlands to the east of this structure are also covered by normalN2‐rich ices, which merge with the ices of Sputnik Planitia through several valley glaciers (Howard et al, ; Protopapa et al, ; Schmitt et al, ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%