Pluto System
Scientist Pick: This image shows off Hubble’s resolution. This is the Pluto system — Pluto, Charon, and the four moons around them (Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx). Hubble is the only telescope that has such fine resolution to be able to see these tiny little dots around Pluto, way at the outer edge of our solar system. We have known about Pluto and Charon since 1986, but all four of those moons were discovered by Hubble within the last decade. Learn more --> www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/32/image/a/
PS (Swedish)
Pluto och Charon har passerats av rymdsonden New Horizons (bilden), som sändes iväg 19 januari 2006. Den närmaste punkten innanför Charons bana nåddes den 14 juli 2015. Sonden gjorde en genomflygning av systemet, utan att gå in i omloppsbana, för att under omkring 10 timmar ta bilder och data från Pluto och Charon. Fotografier från de tidiga stadierna av genomflygningen har tolkats av NASA som att det kan finnas raviner och klippbildningar på Charon, vilket eventuellt kan avgöras med hjälp av ytterligare data från genomflygningen./Wikipedia
The New Horizons science payload consists of seven instruments – three optical instruments, two plasma instruments, a dust sensor and a radio science receiver/radiometer. This payload was designed to investigate the global geology, surface composition and temperature, and the atmospheric pressure, temperature and escape rate of Pluto and its moons.
If an extended mission is approved, the instruments will probe additional Kuiper Belt Objects that the spacecraft can reach.
The payload is incredibly power efficient – with the instruments collectively drawing less than 28 watts – and represents a degree of miniaturization that is unprecedented in planetary exploration. The instruments were designed specifically to handle the cold conditions and low light levels at Pluto and in the Kuiper Belt beyond.
