New Horizons Returns Best Images of Pluto's Moons Hydra and Nix

An anonymous reader writes: Over the weekend, the New Horizons probe sent back more data from Pluto, including two of the best images we'll get of its small moons Nix and Hydra. Nix measures about 42km long by 36km wide, and has a large reddish spot on it. The resolution allows us to see features about 3km across. Hydra is slightly bigger, and the pictures were taken with a different instrument, so resolution is a bit better. "Although the overall surface color of Nix is neutral grey in the image, the newfound region has a distinct red tint. Hints of a bull's-eye pattern lead scientists to speculate that the reddish region is a crater. ... Meanwhile, the sharpest image yet received from New Horizons of Pluto's satellite Hydra shows that its irregular shape resembles the state of Michigan. ...Although the overall surface color of Nix is neutral grey in the image, the newfound region has a distinct red tint. Hints of a bull's-eye pattern lead scientists to speculate that the reddish region is a crater." Images have been taken of Styx and Kerberos, the most recently discovered moons of Pluto, but they won't be transmitted back for a while, yet. NASA has also released an image of a mountain range inside Pluto's heart-shaped region.

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[Sardaukar86]

Fuck off you off-topic partisan fool, nobody gives a shit about your opinion. Pub and Dem suck equally.

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[bigfinger76]

It's a pretty threadbare joke. It's also redundant.

Pluto is trans

[turkeydance]

and identifies as a planet.

Units

[amicusNYCL]

If anyone is confused, Hydra is .81 Rhode Islands and Nix is .55 Rhode Islands.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, the IAU has redefined Rhode Island as a dwarf state.

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[mrsquid0]

> As a non-American I have no idea how big Rhode Island is.

Rhode Island is about half the size of Prince Edward Island, or about the same size as the island of Fyn.

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[Bengie]

How many Libraries of Congress is that? And possibly in units of Olympic swimming pools.

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[MightyYar]

And oddly, not an island.

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[MightyYar]

"State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

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[darniil]

Don't worry. I'm an American, and *I* have no idea how big Rhode Island is.

mmmmmm....

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a giant ham floating in space!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, haammmmmmm...

Repetition?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't proofread articles. I can't proofread articles.

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[Applehu Akbar]

The plaid patterns on the surface you're talking about are JPG compression artifacts. NH will spend the next several weeks sending JPGs. Once we have a "safe copy" in lossy format, it will start transmitting lossless RAW images. This will take months. Such a strategy assures maximum data return if a mechanical failure terminates the mission.

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[AlabamaCajun]

Patience grasshopper! No really we paid for satellite with a large dish and all we got was dial suck speeds.Don't get satelite.
To be real it's the transmission speed that is causing the delays. We have not even learned that Sharon caused that gash at slow speeds when the wandering comet became a moon and in the process knocked Pluto out of circular orbit. (Theory).

Better picture...

[Rei]

Combining multiple high res adjacent pictures here [unmannedspaceflight.com].

This is magnificent - I count at least ten different types of terrain in just this tiny part of Pluto. What a world.

And IMHO it looks even more like subglacial liquids at play now.

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[MrKaos]

Great picture - thanks.

It looks like the mountains are pushing up through the ice, I wonder if that is what produces the 'moated mountain' effect?

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[jrumney]

Do we have the results of what the "ice" actually is? The only element with a melting point within the range of temperatures expected on Pluto is Neon, but I guess internal heating from the core could be melting something with a slightly higher melting point like Oxygen or Nitrogen and causing it to spread out smoothly like that.

Looks like Michigan?

[barakn]

So Hydra is broken into two parts? Or did the idiot author forget about Michigan's upper peninsula?