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Register a new userThe Lyman-{alpha} Sky Background as Observed by New Horizons
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Recent observations of interplanetary medium (IPM) atomic hydrogen Lyman-{alpha} (Ly{alpha}) emission in the outer solar system, made with the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph on New Horizons (NH), are presented. The observations include regularly spaced great-circle scans of the sky and pointed observations near the downstream and upstream flow directions of interstellar H atoms. The NH Alice data agree very well with the much earlier Voyager UVS results, after these are reduced by a factor of 2.4 in brightness, in accordance with recent re-analyses. In particular, the falloff of IPM Ly{alpha} brightness in the upstream-looking direction as a function of spacecraft distance from the Sun is well-matched by an expected 1/r dependence, but with an added constant brightness of ~40 Rayleighs. This additional brightness is a possible signature of the hydrogen wall at the heliopause or of a more distant background. Ongoing observations are planned at a cadence of roughly twice per year.
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Observations made during the New Horizons flyby provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of Plutos atmosphere. While the lower atmosphere (at altitudes <200 km) is consistent with ground-based stellar occultations, the upper atmosphere is much colder and more compact than indicated by pre-encounter models. Molecular nitrogen (N$_2$) dominates the atmosphere (at altitudes <1800 km or so), while methane (CH$_4$), acetylene (C$_2$H$_2$), ethylene (C$_2$H$_4$), and ethane (C$_2$H$_6$) are abundant minor species, and likely feed the production of an extensive haze which encompasses Pluto. The cold upper atmosphere shuts off the anticipated enhanced-Jeans, hydrodynamic-like escape of Plutos atmosphere to space. It is unclear whether the current state of Plutos atmosphere is representative of its average state--over seasonal or geologic time scales.
The New Horizons mission has provided resolved measurements of Plutos moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. All four are small, with equivalent spherical diameters of $approx$40 km for Nix and Hydra and ~10 km for Styx and Kerberos. They are also highly elongated, with maximum to minimum axis ratios of $approx$2. All four moons have high albedos ( $approx$50-90 %) suggestive of a water-ice surface composition. Crater densities on Nix and Hydra imply surface ages $gtrsim$ 4 Ga. The small moons rotate much faster than synchronous, with rotational poles clustered nearly orthogonal to the common pole directions of Pluto and Charon. These results reinforce the hypothesis that the small moons formed in the aftermath of a collision that produced the Pluto-Charon binary.
We used existing data from the New Horizons LORRI camera to measure the optical-band ($0.4lesssimlambdalesssim0.9{rmmu m}$) sky brightness within seven high galactic latitude fields. The average raw level measured while New Horizons was 42 to 45 AU from the Sun is $33.2pm0.5{rm ~nW ~m^{-2} ~sr^{-1}}.$ This is $sim10times$ darker than the darkest sky accessible to the {it Hubble Space Telescope}, highlighting the utility of New Horizons for detecting the cosmic optical background (COB). Isolating the COB contribution to the raw total requires subtracting scattered light from bright stars and galaxies, faint stars below the photometric detection-limit within the fields, and diffuse Milky Way light scattered by infrared cirrus. We remove newly identified residual zodiacal light from the IRIS $100mu$m all sky maps to generate two different estimates for the diffuse galactic light (DGL). Using these yields a highly significant detection of the COB in the range ${rm 15.9pm 4.2 (1.8~stat., 3.7~sys.) ~nW ~m^{-2} ~sr^{-1}}$ to ${rm 18.7pm 3.8 (1.8~stat., 3.3 ~sys.)~ nW ~m^{-2} ~sr^{-1}}$ at the LORRI pivot wavelength of 0.608 $mu$m. Subtraction of the integrated light of galaxies (IGL) fainter than the photometric detection-limit from the total COB level leaves a diffuse flux component of unknown origin in the range ${rm 8.8pm4.9 (1.8 ~stat., 4.5 ~sys.) ~nW ~m^{-2} ~sr^{-1}}$ to ${rm 11.9pm4.6 (1.8 ~stat., 4.2 ~sys.) ~nW ~m^{-2} ~sr^{-1}}$. Explaining it with undetected galaxies requires the galaxy-count faint-end slope to steepen markedly at $V>24$ or that existing surveys are missing half the galaxies with $V< 30.$
Plutos surface is geologically complex because of volatile ices that are mobile on seasonal and longer time scales. Here we analyzed New Horizons LEISA spectral data to globally map the nitrogen ice, including nitrogen with methane diluted in it. Our goal was to learn about the seasonal processes influencing ice redistribution, to calculate the globally averaged energy balance, and to place a lower limit on Plutos N2 inventory. We present the average latitudinal distribution of nitrogen and investigate the relationship between its distribution and topography on Pluto by using maps that include the shifted bands of methane in solid solution with nitrogen to more completely map the distribution of the nitrogen ice. We find that the global average bolometric albedo is 0.83 +- 0.11, similar to that inferred for Triton, and that a significant fraction of Plutos N2 is stored in Sputnik Planitia. Under the assumption that Plutos nitrogen-dominated 11.5 microbar atmosphere is in vapor pressure equilibrium with the nitrogen ice, the ice temperature is 36.93 +/- 0.10 K, as measured by New Horizons. Combined with our global energy balance calculation, this implies that the average bolometric emissivity of Plutos nitrogen ice is probably in the range 0.47 - 0.72. This is consistent with the low emissivities estimated for Triton based on Voyager, and may have implications for Plutos atmospheric seasonal variations, as discussed below. The global pattern of volatile transport at the time of the encounter was from north to south, and the transition between condensation and sublimation within Sputnik Planitia is correlated with changes in the grain size and CH4 concentration derived from the spectral maps. The low emissivity of Plutos N2 ice suggests that Plutos atmosphere may undergo an extended period of constant pressure even as Pluto recedes from the Sun in its orbit.
The Pluto system was recently explored by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, making closest approach on 14 July 2015. Plutos surface displays diverse landforms, terrain ages, albedos, colors, and composition gradients. Evidence is found for a water-ice crust, geologically young surface units, surface ice convection, wind streaks, volatile transport, and glacial flow. Plutos atmosphere is highly extended, with trace hydrocarbons, a global haze layer, and a surface pressure near 10 microbars. Plutos diverse surface geology and long-term activity raise fundamental questions about how small planets remain active many billions of years after formation. Plutos large moon Charon displays tectonics and evidence for a heterogeneous crustal composition, its north pole displays puzzling dark terrain. Small satellites Hydra and Nix have higher albedos than expected.
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