Saturday, July 18

Noteworthy Quote: Everything Changed

"We've established something fundamental in planetary science...In one fell swoop, in 10 minutes, we got the image, we knew: Everything changed."

-- Pluto mission head Dr. Alan Stern in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He was making reference to the 100 million years old mountains on the dwarf planet's surface, which was unexpected for what was thought to be a long dead frozen world. In response to a question about Pluto's demotion from the realm of planets, he noted it was as dumb as only naming seven mountains on Earth.
Image Credit:  New Horizons image (top) showing 12 miles of plain nicknamed "Sputnik Planum."  The bottom photo shows the location of the plain.