The Global Color of Pluto from New Horizons
Name
Olkin_2017_AJ_154_258.pdf
Size
8.1 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d7bd0f29c6b38e53fd06350fbe532b91
Author(s)
Olkin, Catherine B.
Spencer, John R.
Grundy, William M.
Parker, Alex H.
Beyer, Ross A.
Schenk, Paul M.
Howett, Carly J. A.
Stern, S. Alan
Reuter, Dennis C.
Weaver, Harold A.
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
Astronomical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Citation
Olkin, Catherine B. et al. “The Global Color of Pluto from New Horizons.” The Astronomical Journal 154, 6 (November 2017): 258 © 2017 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The New Horizons flyby provided the first high-resolution color maps of Pluto. We present here, for the first time, an analysis of the color of the entire sunlit surface of Pluto and the first quantitative analysis of color and elevation on the encounter hemisphere. These maps show the color variation across the surface from the very red terrain in the equatorial region, to the more neutral colors of the volatile ices in Sputnik Planitia, the blue terrain of East Tombaugh Regio, and the yellow hue on Pluto's North Pole. There are two distinct color mixing lines in the color-color diagrams derived from images of Pluto. Both mixing lines have an apparent starting point in common: the relatively neutral-color volatile-ice covered terrain. One line extends to the dark red terrain exemplified by Cthulhu Regio and the other extends to the yellow hue in the northern latitudes. There is a latitudinal dependence of the predominant color mixing line with the most red terrain located near the equator, less red distributed at mid-latitudes and more neutral terrain at the North Pole. This is consistent with the seasonal cycle controlling the distribution of colors on Pluto. Additionally, the red color is consistent with tholins. The yellow terrain (in the false color images) located at the northern latitudes occurs at higher elevations.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/AA965B
