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Piccard Mons
} Piccard Mons is a large, roughly circular mountain and likely cryovolcano on the dwarf planet Pluto. Discovered by the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft in 2015, it is located southeast of Wright Mons within the Tombaugh Regio, adjacent to the Safronov Regio and Elcano Montes. Discovery and naming On 14 July 2015, the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft conducted a flyby of the Pluto and its system of moons, resolving surface features on Pluto for the first time. Piccard Mons was soon after informally named by the ''New Horizons'' team after Swiss balloonist and physicist Auguste Piccard. On 30May 2019, Piccard Mons was approved as the official name of the feature by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Piccard Mons is believed to be the tallest cryovolcano on Pluto with an estimated height of 7 km (4.2 mi) Challenges By the time the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft was conducting its highest-resolution observations, the mountain was in darkness, having rotated past Pluto's terminator ...
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Tombaugh Regio
Tombaugh Regio () is the largest bright surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto. It is just north of the equator, to the northeast of Cthulhu Macula and to the northwest of Krun Macula, which are both dark features. Its western lobe, a -wide plain of nitrogen and other ices lying within a basin, is named Sputnik Planitia. The eastern lobe consists of high-albedo uplands thought to be coated by nitrogen transported through the atmosphere from Sputnik Planitia, and then deposited as ice. Some of this nitrogen ice then returns to Sputnik Planitia via glacial flow. Named after Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto, it was nicknamed Pluto's "heart" after its shape. Description Tombaugh Regio is a large, light-colored region about across. The two lobes of the feature are geologically distinct. The western lobe, Sputnik Planitia, is smoother than the eastern, and they are of slightly different colors. Early speculation was that the western lobe may be a large impact crater fille ...
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Methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it poses technical challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure. Naturally occurring methane is found both below ground and under the seafloor and is formed by both geological and biological processes. The largest reservoir of methane is under the seafloor in the form of methane clathrates. When methane reaches the surface and the atmosphere, it is known as atmospheric methane. The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150% since 1750, and it accounts for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases. It has also been detected on other pl ...
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Surface Features Of Pluto
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is the portion with which other materials first interact. The surface of an object is more than "a mere geometric solid", but is "filled with, spread over by, or suffused with perceivable qualities such as color and warmth". The concept of surface has been abstracted and formalized in mathematics, specifically in geometry. Depending on the properties on which the emphasis is given, there are several non equivalent such formalizations, that are all called ''surface'', sometimes with some qualifier, such as algebraic surface, smooth surface or fractal surface. The concept of surface and its mathematical abstraction are both widely used in physics, engineering, computer graphics, and many other disciplines, primarily in representing the surfac ...
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Geography Of Pluto
The geography of Pluto entails the delineation and characterization of regions on Pluto. Plutonian geography is mainly focused on what is called physical geography on Earth; that is, the distribution of physical features across Pluto and their cartographic representations. On 14 July 2015, the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto. During its brief flyby, ''New Horizons'' made detailed geographical measurements and observations of Pluto and its moons. Coordinate system orientation Pluto may be defined as having retrograde rotation and an axial tilt of 60 degrees, or prograde rotation and a tilt of 120 degrees. Following the latter convention (the right-hand rule), the hemisphere currently in daylight is the northern one, with much of the southern hemisphere in darkness. This is the convention used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the ''New Horizons'' team, and their maps put the sunlit hemisphere on top. However, older sources ...
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Extraterrestrial Mountains
Extraterrestrial refers to any object or being beyond ( extra-) the planet Earth (terrestrial). It is derived from the Latin words ''extra'' ("outside", "outwards") and ''terrestris'' ("earthly", "of or relating to the Earth"). It may be abbreviated as "E.T." Extraterrestrial may also refer to: General topics * Extraterrestrial life, life that occurs outside of Earth and that probably did not originate from Earth ** Extraterrestrial intelligence, hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life ** Extraterrestrials in fiction ** List of alleged extraterrestrial beings Media and entertainment * ''Extraterrestrial'' (TV documentary), a program on the National Geographic Channel * "Extraterrestrial" (song), a 2018 song by Tynan and Kompany * "E.T." (song), a 2010 song by Katy Perry * ' Film * ''Extraterrestrial'' (2011 film), a 2011 Spanish film by Nacho Vigalondo * ''Extraterrestrial'' (2014 film), a 2014 American film by Colin Minihan and written by The Vicious Brothers * ''E ...
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List Of Tallest Mountains In The Solar System
This is a list of the tallest mountains in the Solar System. This list includes peaks on all celestial bodies where significant mountains have been detected. For some celestial bodies, different peaks are given across different types of measurement. The solar system's tallest mountain is the central peak of Rheasilvia on the asteroid Vesta, estimated at up to 25 km from peak to base. Among the terrestrial planets the tallest mountain is Olympus Mons on Mars, at 21.9 km. __TOC__ List Heights are given from base to peak (although a precise definition for mean base level is lacking). Peak elevations above sea level are only available on Earth, and possibly Titan. On other worlds, peak elevations above an equipotential surface or a reference ellipsoid could be used if enough data is available for the calculation, but this is often not the case. Tallest mountains by elevation * Olympus Mons * Equatorial Ridge * Boƶsaule Mons * Ascraeus Mons * Ionian Mons * Elysiu ...
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Radioactive Material
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferred to one of its electrons to release it as a conversion electron; or used to create and emit a new particle ( alpha particle or beta particle) from the nucleus. During those processes, the radionuclide is said to undergo radioactive decay. These emissions are considered ionizing radiation because they are energetic enough to liberate an electron from another atom. The radioactive decay can produce a stable nuclide or will sometimes produce a new unstable radionuclide which may undergo further decay. Radioactive decay is a random process at the level of single atoms: it is impossible to predict when one particular atom will decay. However, for a collection of atoms of a single nuclide the decay rate, and thus the half-life (''t''1/2) ...
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Erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distinct from weathering which involves no movement. Removal of rock or soil as clastic sediment is referred to as ''physical'' or ''mechanical'' erosion; this contrasts with ''chemical'' erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by dissolution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres. Agents of erosion include rainfall; bedrock wear in rivers; coastal erosion by the sea and waves; glacial plucking, abrasion, and scour; areal flooding; wind abrasion; groundwater processes; and mass movement processes in steep landscapes like landslides and debris flows. The rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Typically, physical ...
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Hummocky Terrain
This is a list of named geological features on Pluto, identified by scientists working with data from the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially approved the first 14 names on 8 August 2017 (announced 7 September 2017), with additional names following in each subsequent year, but many of the names listed on this page are still informal. The IAU has determined that names will be chosen from the following themes: * Names for the underworld from the world's mythologies * Gods, goddesses, and dwarfs associated with the underworld * Heroes and other explorers of the underworld * Writers associated with Pluto and the Kuiper belt * Pioneering space missions and spacecraft * Scientists and engineers associated with Pluto and the Kuiper belt Cavi A cavus is a hollow or steep-sided depression. The following is a list of official and unofficial names chosen by the ''New Horizons'' team. Colles A collis is a low hill. Plutonian colles are ...
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Solid Nitrogen
Solid nitrogen is a number of solid forms of the element nitrogen, first observed in 1884. Solid nitrogen is mainly the subject of academic research, but low-temperature, low-pressure solid nitrogen is a substantial component of bodies in the outer Solar System and high-temperature, high-pressure solid nitrogen is a powerful explosive, with higher energy density than any other non-nuclear material. Generation Karol Olszewski first observed solid nitrogen in 1884, by first liquefying hydrogen with evaporating liquid nitrogen, and then allowing the liquid hydrogen to freeze the nitrogen. By evaporating vapour from the solid nitrogen, Olszewski also generated the extremely low temperature of , at the time a world record. Modern techniques usually take a similar approach: solid nitrogen is normally made in a laboratory by evaporating liquid nitrogen in a vacuum. The solid produced is porous. Occurrence in nature Solid nitrogen forms a large part of the surface of Pluto (whe ...
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Nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bond to form N2, a colorless and odorless diatomic gas. N2 forms about 78% of Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element. Nitrogen occurs in all organisms, primarily in amino acids (and thus proteins), in the nucleic acids ( DNA and RNA) and in the energy transfer molecule adenosine triphosphate. The human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass, the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. The nitrogen cycle describes the movement of the element from the air, into the biosphere and organic compounds, then back into the atmosphere. Many industrially ...
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Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simplest molecule of the oxocarbon family. In coordination complexes the carbon monoxide ligand is called carbonyl. It is a key ingredient in many processes in industrial chemistry. The most common source of carbon monoxide is the partial combustion of carbon-containing compounds, when insufficient oxygen or heat is present to produce carbon dioxide. There are also numerous environmental and biological sources that generate and emit a significant amount of carbon monoxide. It is important in the production of many compounds, including drugs, fragrances, and fuels. Upon emission into the atmosphere, carbon monoxide affects several processes that contribute to climate change. Carbon monoxide has important biological roles across phylog ...
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