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Collection:
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
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Title:
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Mysterious Pluto and Charon
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Explanation:
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Pluto [ http://www.seds.org…] is the only planet in our Solar System [ http://www.fourmila…] remaining unphotographed by a passing spacecraft. Distant Pluto [ http://www.hawastso…] and its moon Charon [ http://www.seds.org…] therefore remain somewhat mysterious. In addition to direct imaging [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…], careful tracking of brightness changes that occur as each object eclipses the other have allowed astronomers to build up the above black & white surface maps [ http://www.lowell.e…]. These maps depict the face of Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] (left) that always faces Charon, and the face of Charon that always faces away from Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The rectangular pixels [ http://machaut.uchi…] are an artifact of the mapping software. The Pluto-Kuiper Express [ http://www.jpl.nasa. gov/ice_fire//pkexpr ss.htm ] mission is tentatively planned for launch in 2003 and should encounter Pluto around the year 2012.
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Credit and Copyright:
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M. W. Buie (Lowell Observatory [ http://www.lowell.e…]), D. J. Tholen (U. Hawaii), and K. Horne (St. Andrews)
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keyword:
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pluto
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keyword:
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charon
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facet_when:
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2003
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facet_where:
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Pluto
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facet_where:
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Hawaii
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facet_where:
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Charon
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
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facet_what:
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Moon
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facet_what:
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Pluto
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facet_what:
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USERS
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facet_what:
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Charon
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
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facet_when_year:
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2003
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.…
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap980708
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Image ID:
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108124
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Resolution Size:
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2
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Format:
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JPEG
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Media Type:
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Image
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File Name:
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plutocharon_lo_sml.j pg
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Width:
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256
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Height:
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256
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