What We Know About Pluto | Mission Pluto

we should at last see what Pluto really looks like but until 10 weeks ago we had no idea even with the world's finest Space Telescope Hubble I'm going to show you the best images that we have of Pluto now can you bring that up for a second and here you see the best images we've ever done of Pluto just a pixelated mess taken with the Hubble Space Telescope that's it from Hubble the most powerful telescope we have you would love to see a more detailed picture all of us would but the problem is Pluto is just so far away but even in this fuzzy blob there are tantalizing Clues if you look hard enough analyzing it in different wavelengths of light reveals traces of nitrogen methane and carbon monoxide and because Pluto is so far from the Sun it has to be one of the most frigid places in the solar system on Pluto it's about - 390° F gases on Earth would freeze solid on [Music] Pluto planetary scientist Kathy Olin imagines what it would be like to stand on Pluto if we were walking on Pluto you would see rocks and ice but the ice would be very different it's not water ice like we see here it's nitrogen ice and carbon monoxide ice and methane ice but scientists also think that where the weak Sun hits the surface of Pluto some of the ice could get heated turning directly into gas Pluto could be a mountainous world of exotic ice and primordial Rock gases spewing out of its surface it may look similar to how liquid nitrogen evaporates here on Pluto I think the sunlight warms the ice and that ice goes up into the atmosphere it's transported by winds to places on Pluto where it's colder and there it will condense perhaps even forming clouds and then you could be seeing snow or Frost falling and condensing onto the surface so we believe that Pluto has weather Hubble also reveals that Pluto has Moon its largest named Sharon is half Pluto's size they both dance around each other unlike any other planetary body in the solar system understanding this might reveal how Pluto was formed and that could tell us how the earth was formed which is what led to you and me we've got a real mystery on our hands with this planet Moon system you have to wonder how did it get there Pluto is is a very primordial object it's been out in a deep freeze you can think of it as uh a storage area your attic of some of the building blocks of our solar system Pluto is potentially a gold mine for teaching us about the formation of even larger planets like the Earth

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 306,689

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, documentary, Mission Pluto, pluto video, space, NASA, New Horizons, exploration, pluto, mission, planet, discovery, Jason Silva, What We Know, About Pluto

Id: 4NY63IYN-UM

Length: 4min 26sec (266 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2015