                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 August 18

                               Northern Pluto
       Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research
                                  Institute

   Explanation: Gaze across the frozen canyons of northern Pluto in this
   contrast enhanced color scene. The image data used to construct it was
   acquired in July 2015 by the New Horizons spacecraft as it made the
   first reconnaissance flight through the remote Pluto system six billion
   kilometers from the Sun. Now known as Lowell Regio, the region was
   named for Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory. Also
   famous for his speculation that there were canals on Mars, Lowell
   started the search that ultimately led to Pluto's discovery in 1930 by
   Clyde Tombaugh. In this frame Pluto's North Pole is above and left of
   center. The pale bluish floor of the broad canyon on the left is about
   70 kilometers (45 miles) wide, running vertically toward the south.
   Higher elevations take on a yellowish hue. New Horizon's measurements
   were used to determine that in addition to nitrogen ice, methane ice is
   abundant across Lowell Regio. So far, Pluto is the only Solar System
   world named by an 11-year-old girl.

                    Tomorrow's picture: ringed ice giant
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

