Fly Over Pluto’s Majestic Mountains and Charon's Canyon of Serenity with New Horizons spacecraft

To celebrate 2 years since the New Horizons spacecraft sent back its first close-up pictures of Pluto and its moons NASA have released these two videos of Pluto and Charon showing what the spacecraft saw on its close approaches , the videos are rendered from data obtained by the craft and have no sound because in space no one can hear you scream.

First up , Pluto.

This dramatic Pluto flyover begins over the highlands to the southwest of the great expanse of nitrogen ice plain informally named Sputnik Planitia. The viewer first passes over the western margin of Sputnik, where it borders the dark, cratered terrain of Cthulhu Macula, with the blocky mountain ranges located within the plains seen on the right. The tour moves north past the rugged and fractured highlands of Voyager Terra and then turns southward over Pioneer Terra -- which exhibits deep and wide pits -- before concluding over the bladed terrain of Tartarus Dorsa in the far east of the encounter hemisphere.

Followed by the "unusual features" of Charon

The exciting flight over Charon begins high over the hemisphere New Horizons saw on its closest approach, then descends over the deep, wide canyon of Serenity Chasma. The view moves north, passing over Dorothy Gale crater and the dark polar hood of Mordor Macula. The flight then turns south, covering the northern terrain of Oz Terra before ending over the relatively flat equatorial plains of Vulcan Planum and the “moated mountains” of Clarke Montes.

Poetry in motion.

Imo, Charon is more interesting than Pluto. Both look tortured, blasted and bleak. Cold and lifeless.

a reply to: gortex

Pluto is flat.

Also, I mean in all seriousness... it looks like CGI.

a reply to: toysforadults

Also, I mean in all seriousness... it looks like CGI.

The videos are renders made from data acquired by the New Horizons spacecraft so they are computer generated.

Wonder no more. Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, mission scientists have created flyover movies that offer spectacular new perspectives of the many unusual features that were discovered and which have reshaped our views of the Pluto system – from a vantage point even closer than the spacecraft itself.
www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: gortex

What nonsense. No offense to you meant by that statement but this is just well...

a reply to: toysforadults

New Horizons didn't have the capability to capture video , the videos are made with data taken by the spacecraft so what you see is what you would see if you were flying over the Planet and Moon.

a reply to: gortex

So is everything produced by NASA, all CGI.

a reply to: toysforadults

No , pictures are pictures but the bandwidth needed to transmit video is to great to be worthwhile at the moment , science first candy later.
If you have the relevant data you can accurately recreate what is there.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: gortex

So is everything produced by NASA, all CGI.

that rhetoric would lead then that everything nasa, esa and the rest haven't done anything and everything is fake.
care to explain how my gps works without satellites?
or are they real, just because?

a reply to: growler

Offtopic.

This is CGI though so who knows what the real image of Pluto looks like. Not to take away from the OP but once you find out NASA creates the majority of these things in computer simulations it loses a lot of it's credibility.

a reply to: toysforadults

This is CGI though so who knows what the real image of Pluto looks like.

We know what Pluto looks like because New Horizons sent back pictures.

a reply to: gortex

S&F..... Kinda disappointing that this thread has not gotten more flags and positive comments.. People complain about all the political BS threads yet when someone makes a thread about places none of us alive today will ever actually visit "crickets."

I for one thank you for posting

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: gortex

So is everything produced by NASA, all CGI.

If you have real satellite imagery acquired by a probe and combine it with elevation data (e.g. extracted from stereo views), then rendering it all in a video is as close as you can get to the real thing without taking bandwidth consuming "real video".

Since the procedure is indicated in the description of the YouTube clip ("Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models"), I think it's fine and a nice way to provide additional views of Pluto and Charon.

One of the most mind-blowing things about Pluto (and the rest of the outer Solar System) is that over there, water is the hard rock stuff that makes up the ground, mountains, and bouldersl; and gasses like nitrogen, methane, and ethane act like liquid that can form lakes and rivers (on Titan, at least), forming huge convection cells on Pluto.

www.gigapan.com...

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: gortex

Pluto is flat.

Also, I mean in all seriousness... it looks like CGI.

They used a high resolution radar system to create a database of elevation points. These can be combined together to form a complete elevation map of the planet, which can then be used with existing rendering systems.

Video would only give you one frame from one point in space at one angle. Elevation map data gives you complete flexibility. They will have photographs of the surface viewed from straight down as well.

Thanks OP, pretty cool ride from some nifty software. My only complaint would be that it doesn't show us the true diversity of Pluto. S&F



a reply to: toysforadults

What makes you state as fact that Pluto is flat?

a reply to: toysforadults

It was done in a way Similar to photogrammetry.
Using stereo images to create DTM's - Digital terrain models.

Stereo imagery

It would have been nice if they had put the blue atmosphere of the planet with it. It looks more like a dead, generic moon if I might say.
Still, Pluto has very interesting features.

a reply to: NowanKenubi

My same thoughts. Pluto is beautiful, and far from dead. There just might even be a liquid ocean under the surface. How cool would that be!