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NASA puts people on Pluto, but in new mosaic formed of pictures sent by people all over the world.
A while back, NASA started a new campaign, called the Pluto Time Campaign, which asked people all over the world to take a picture when the sun was dimmer in their little corner of the planet.
The idea behind this is the fact that Pluto, sadly, is a darker planet. It’s situated rather far from the sun and, therefore, doesn’t benefit of much shine from it. The lights are always dim on Pluto, like in a never-ending teenage party. Therefore, people were asked to immortalize the moment when daylight in their hometown matched the dim one on Pluto.
NASA also equipped interested people with a tool they named Pluto Time. You could go on it, upload your current geographical position and the app would tell you when your own time of day matched the high noon on Pluto. It was mostly in the evening for us.
The app was launched in June and, since them, NASA approximates close to 340 000 visits. They also got a staggering 7 000 photos, as many obliged and decided to send their photos towards NASA and little Pluto.
Out of the 7 000, NASA used approximately 2000 to create every mosaic photos of Pluto and its moon, Charon. These photos also sport a heart touching surprise, in the shape of Clyde Tombaugh’s picture. He is the man who discovered Pluto in 1930. Because of this, his picture, highlighted in red, was placed at the heart of the planet.
Pluto has a geographical region on it that scientists have named the Tombaugh Regio. And it is an area located right at the icy heart of the dwarf planet. And that is where its discoverer’s picture lies.
NASA also has a space mission dedicated to Pluto, which you might have heard of. It’s called New Horizons and this July it came the closest humanity ever got to Pluto. Ever since, it has been sending us back breathtaking images of the far-away and lonely little planet.
It took 9 years and 3 billion miles to get close to Pluto. Yes, the New Horizons probe, which is the size of a piano, left Earth 9 years ago for a blind date with Pluto. It reached it this July. All this time, humanity has been patiently waiting to see the planet in all its naked, raw and unexplored beauty. And it didn’t disappoint. It’s a wondrous thing to behold, with newly formed baby mountains and 5 moons (that we know of), out of which Charon is the biggest.
As a bonus, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says that, with the New Horizons mission, humanity has been able to pay a visit to every planet in our solar system.
Image Source: www.7-themes.com
