Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2025 May 19
     Your browser does not support the video tag. Alt text: A flyover of
       Pluto's Moon Charon is shown from the New Horizons spacecraft.

                      Charon Flyover from New Horizons
     Video Credit: [2]NASA, [3]JHUAPL, [4]SwRI, P. Schenk & J. Blackwell
                     ([5]LPI); Music: [6]Juicy by ALBIS

   Explanation: What if you could fly over [7]Pluto's moon Charon -- what
   might you see? The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July
   as it [8]zipped past Pluto and [9]Charon with cameras blazing. The
   images recorded allowed for a digital reconstruction of much of
   [10]Charon's surface, further enabling the creation of fictitious
   flights over Charon created from this data. One such fanciful,
   minute-long, time-lapse video is [11]shown here with vertical heights
   and colors of surface features digitally enhanced. Your journey begins
   over a wide chasm that divides different types of [12]Charon's
   landscapes, a chasm that might have formed when [13]Charon froze
   through. You soon turn [14]north and fly over a colorful depression
   dubbed [15]Mordor that, one hypothesis holds, is an [16]unusual remnant
   from an ancient impact. [17]Your voyage continues over an [18]alien
   landscape rich with never-before-seen craters, mountains, and
   [19]crevices. The robotic [20]New Horizons spacecraft has too much
   [21]momentum to ever return to [22]Pluto and Charon and is now
   [23]headed out of our [24]Solar System.

                 Portal Universe: [25]Random APOD Generator
                       Tomorrow's picture: volcano sky
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    Authors & editors: [37]Robert Nemiroff ([38]MTU) & [39]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([40]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [41]Specific rights apply.
            [42]NASA Web Privacy, [43]Accessibility, [44]Notices;
                A service of: [45]ASD at [46]NASA / [47]GSFC,
                         [48]NASA Science Activation
                           & [49]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://www.nasa.gov/
   3. http://www.jhuapl.edu/
   4. http://www.swri.org/
   5. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/
   6. https://www.last.fm/music/Albis/_/Juicy
   7. https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250518.html
   9. https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/moons/charon/
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)
  11. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/flyover-pluto-moon-charon/
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151002.html
  13. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-big-moon-charon-reveals-a-colorful-and-violent-history
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200407.html
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordor_Macula
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/science/pluto-moon-charon.html
  17. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/964jz1/dog_surfing_on_a_wave_on_ocean_sea_on_summer/#lightbox
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140826.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201129.html
  20. https://www.nasa.gov/image/ames/take-new-horizons-for-a-spin-and-print-your-own-model
  21. http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Momentum-and-Collisions/Collision-Carts/Collision-Carts-Interactive
  22. https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/facts/
  23. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/nasas-new-horizons-to-continue-exploring-outer-solar-system/
  24. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250518.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  32. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  35. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250519
  36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250520.html
  37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  39. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  40. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  42. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  45. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/
  47. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  48. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  49. http://www.mtu.edu/