Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Pluto: New Horizons Painting Credit & Copyright: Dan Durda (SwRI) Pluto's horizon spans the foreground in this artist's vision, gazing sunward across that distant and not yet explored world. Titled New Horizons, the painting also depicts Pluto's companion, Charon, as a darkened, ghostly apparition with a luminous crescent against a starry background. Beyond Charon, the diminished Sun is immersed in a flattened cloud of zodiacal dust. Here, Pluto's ruddy colors are based on existing astronomical observations while imagined but scientifically tenable details provided by the artist include high atmospheric cirrus and dark plumes from surface vents, in analogy to Neptune's large moon Triton explored by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. Craters suggest bombardment by Kuiper Belt objects, a newly understood population of outer solar system bodies likely related to the Pluto-Charon system. NASA is now considering a future robotic reconnaissance mission to Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt which could reach the distant worlds late in the next decade.
Nice picture, even if the sun does look a little large. Well, very large. One thing: It's rude to post other people's paintings without at least linking to to the site whence it came. It's probably illegal as well, but I doubt that the artists/agencies would object if you link back. A mere copyright notice does little good, IMO.
The site can be readily obtained by right clicking on the picture. The links are posted every day and require that you include the credits where due. Such is done and meet the requirements. Yes, the sun does look over done in relative size.
