MAKE A MEME View Large Image This mosaic of images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Charon in July 2015 shows reddish material in the north polar region of Pluto's largest moon. The coloring comes from Pluto itself: nitrogen and methane gases that ...
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Keywords: This mosaic of images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Charon in July 2015 shows reddish material in the north polar region of Pluto's largest moon. The coloring comes from Pluto itself: nitrogen and methane gases that escape from Pluto's atmosphere become "trapped" by Charon's gravity. The gases freeze to the cold, icy surface at Charon's pole. Then a chemical process occurs by which ultraviolet light from the sun transforms the nitrogen and methane ices into reddish organic materials called tholins. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) This mosaic of images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Charon in July 2015 shows reddish material in the north polar region of Pluto's largest moon. The coloring comes from Pluto itself: nitrogen and methane gases that escape from Pluto's atmosphere become "trapped" by Charon's gravity. The gases freeze to the cold, icy surface at Charon's pole. Then a chemical process occurs by which ultraviolet light from the sun transforms the nitrogen and methane ices into reddish organic materials called tholins. (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
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