Sputnik Planum by Orion Moon, on Flickr

Manually stitched mosaic by user Herobrine. Larger version here.

Want to see an explosion of capital in the space race, Announce that the golden hue of natural pics of Pluto are because the surface, at least, is 20% real gold dust.

We could start a rumor. :)

One writer is calling it "Plutonic tar". 

ImaGeo

Organic Brown Gunk (Technical Term) Rains Out of Pluto's Surprising Atmosphere, Coloring the Planet's Surface - ImaGeo

I'm just catching up on some of the recent spectacular imagery of Pluto sent back by the New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby, and this one really caught my eye. This beautiful image of sunlight streaming through the atmosphere was captured by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager instrument, known as LORRI.

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Nailed it.

Pluto today (left, via New Horizons) and from a painting done in 1979 (right).

Slate Magazine

Pluto's Face Was Predicted in 1979 ... and It"s a Beaut.

I talk a lot about how entwined art and science are, but I don't think I've ever seen as good an example as this: Space Artist Don Dixon predicted what Pluto looked like back in 1979 ... and he nailed it. Are you kidding me? That's the cover he did...

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To me, the craters look like the impacts were made in a very dusty environment.   But I am mere amateur so...