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Article: Pluto Yields Some Mysteries To Space Scope; Hubble View Shows Planet Of Unexpected Complexity
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 8, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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For the first time since the mysterious, remote planet Pluto
was discovered 66 years ago, astronomers have seen details of its
surface.
New images from the Hubble Space Telescope, released
yesterday, reveal the only unexplored planet in the solar system to
be an unexpectedly complex object that "really blew our doors off,"
said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado,
leader of the observing team. "Pluto is turning out to be a
wonderfully exciting place."
The images show almost a dozen "provinces" of contrasting dark
and light, including a ragged northern polar cap split by a dark
strip. Nobody knows yet what these dark and light splotches are, the
researchers ...