[X] My Assistant

[Gladstoner]

HSchirmer, I meant to say "southeast of Sputnik", i.e. the 'valley glaciers' flowing from the rough terrain near Krun Macula, but my thoughts on Sputnik are somewhat similar to yours. I think of the planum as a vast 'lava lake' (plastic solid rather than liquid) with a deeply-rooted source area of material. I think some of the colles could be accumulations of 'xenoliths', while the large block mountains were separated from the crust surrounding Sputnik, particularly along the northwest side. Of course, how all this could occur is still a total mystery, and would probably remain so for quite awhile.

[JohnVV]

This is how I imagine the "snakeskin" or "dragonscale" terrain looking from ground level. But I'm probably way off.

this is how i see it
-- 1920x1080 --


heightmap in blender
-- 8bit copy of the heightmap i used


as to "if's" ???? i will leave that to others -- i just make pretty pictures ...

[machi]

Here is cross-eye stereo view of almost entire visible disc of Pluto.
It uses my older mosaic from the LORRI imager with the new amazing color image by Alex Parker.
As angle between observation is large, it leads to problems with viewing in some parts of image.
Edges are entirely cropped from this image because of this.
For full resolution (at 850 m/pix) viewing I recommend StereoPhoto Maker.

[wildespace]

Uploaded to Gigapan for easy viewing and exploring: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/179514

My thoughts here:
This is the most beautiful and entrancing terrain I have seen outside of Earth. The colours too; Pluto resembles some sort of dessert, like blueberry/chocolate smoothie or something. At least in this enhanced not-quite-real colours. To an astronaut approaching it, and taking pictures with a "normal" DSLR camera, Pluto would probably look more uniform dull-reddish colour.

With higher-rez LORRI images, colour data from MVIC, and terrain elevation estimates, the time is ripe for producing spectacular fly-over videos. *hint hint hint*

~~~

My current interest from looking at that spectacular image, are the "pockmarks" in the smooth icy terrain. What are they, and how did they appear? Localised sublimation, perhaps?

[Gladstoner]

My current interest from looking at that spectacular image, are the "pockmarks" in the smooth icy terrain. What are they, and how did they appear? Localised sublimation, perhaps?

[attachment]

Once the higher-res images come down, it will be interesting to see if the pits become distended or stretched where the dome-like structures are 'poking up' through the flat areas.

[HSchirmer]

Once the higher-res images come down, it will be interesting to see if the pits become distended or stretched where the dome-like structures are 'poking up' through the flat areas.

I wonder if some of those "pits" and the mottled terrain could be optical artifacts.

If you look at the patterned terrain in Sputnik you see squiggles, pixel patters that look like the old "game of life" screen saver. They are especially apparent around the "Klingon Battle Cruiser wreck" (hmm, Mount Koloth after the Klingon Captain in 'Trouble with Tribbles"). Those pixel patterns- could be from something real, and they could be sublimation pits, or drifts, (heck, they could be piles of frozen tribbles). They could be image artifacts...

Those "tribble squiggles" pixel patterns are QUITE familiar to me, because I occasionally use an old 42" plasma tv as a monitor. When you can see the pixelation, any minute changes in shading across an image create artifacts that look identical to the patterning on Sputnik. So, an image of dust cloud, or a snow field, which has a subtle grading of brightness or color, the pixels form these "tribble squiggle" patterns.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[fredk]

Here is cross-eye stereo view of almost entire visible disc of Pluto.

That is absolutely superb. I was hoping someone would do that...

[bill davis]

I have recently found a little JAVA app that enables you to load any circular image and turn it into a sphere which you can then turn, tilt and rotate.
I use it to create stereo pairs and it seems to work well for this. Here is an example.



I just used the image right off the NH page and enhanced the color.
Here's a link to the page where you can find the app.

http://sweiller.free.fr/Lusol3D/Lusol3D.htm

[Gladstoner]

I wonder if some of those "pits" and the mottled terrain could be optical artifacts.

I think the coarser pattern, at least, is real, but artifacts could possibly interfere with details at the threshold of resolution.

[alan]

Came across this while browsing the DPS abstracts:

On Pluto, images of an equatorial region south of the Tombaugh Regio reveal a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as 3,500 meters. The low concentration of craters for these mountains suggests an age of 100 million years, indicating that Pluto is geologically active. Other evidence for geologic activity includes a fault cross-cutting ridges, smooth lightly cratered plains with flow fronts, and a pair of apparent stratovolcanoes.

[HSchirmer]

This is how I imagine the "snakeskin" or "dragonscale" terrain looking from ground level. But I'm probably way off.

Might not be that far off with sharp peaks, but it could be something a little different...


Curious what happens when this image of flat sand dunes in Saudi Arabia is blenderized into topography....

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Gladstoner]

The snakeskin reminds me of yardangs on Mars:



I think the Plutonian version is due more to asymmetrical insolation than wind, though.

Edit: Any winds should be asymmetrical as well, due to the uneven seasons, particularly spring and autumn. It remains to be seen if the arcs align north-south with insolation, or at an angle (or angles), which could indicate influence by winds.

[stevesliva]

Came across this while browsing the DPS abstracts:

a pair of apparent stratovolcanos

Really? Where?

[eliBonora]

Our version of Sputnik Planum mosaic (for color, missing filters were extracted from the original color image)



and Pluto haze with detail (colors obtained by the variations of light as filters)

[fred_76]

Hi!

This is my version of the little lake on the western side of Sputnik planum :



It is made from the LORRI image posted here for the luminance, and the MVIC 8000² Pluto picture for the color.

The MVIC picture is really distorded compared to the LORRI picture, and automized registration was not possible. I had to do it manually.

This version is made by stretching each color layer one by one, I find it quite cool !