Charon New Horizons LORRI MVIC Global DEM 300m v1
Product Information:
This detailed, high-quality global mosaic of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, was assembled from nearly all of the highest-resolution images obtained by the LORRI and the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on New Horizons. This digital elevation model (DEM) or topography data represents the hemisphere visible to New Horizons during the spacecraft’s closest approach. The topography is derived from digital stereo-image mapping tools that measure the parallax – or the difference in the apparent relative positions – of features on the surface obtained at different viewing angles during the encounter. Scientists use these parallax displacements of high and low terrain to estimate landform heights.
DEM is available in Equirectangular projection at an equatorial pixel scale of 300 meters per pixel (m). The DEM is also available in 32bit ISIS3 cube format. This DEM was produced using radii of 606 kilometers for Charon.
Mission and Instrument Information:
Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was discovered by an observing assistant, Clyde Tombaugh, as he assisted the search for planet X which was believed (incorrectly) to be responsible for anomalies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. At about half the size of Earth’s moon, Pluto has been officially re-classified as a dwarf planet. It is in the Kuiper Belt and orbits the sun at an average distance of 3.6 billion miles. Pluto has five moons, the largest of which is Charon. Pluto and Charon orbit each other like a double planet system.
New Horizons spacecraft launched onboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on January 19, 2006. The main objectives of New Horizons was a Pluto Flyby and a Kuiper Belt Object Flyby. The science payload includes seven instruments: visible and infrared imager/spectrometer (Ralph), ultraviolet imaging spectrometer (Alice), Radio science EXperiment (REX), Long Range Reconnaissance Image (LORRI), solar wind around Pluto (SWAP), Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI), and Student Dust Counter (SDC).
New Horizons passed Mars on April 7th, 2006 and received a gravity assist from Jupiter on Feb 28th, 2007. The spacecraft was put into hibernation mode starting June 28th, 2007 and it reached the halfway point to Pluto on February 25th, 2010. Ground controllers revived New Horizons from hibernation on December 6th, 2014. At that time, it took four hours and twenty-five minutes for a signal from the spacecraft to reach Earth. New Horizons began its approach to Pluto on January 15th, 2015 and flew about 4,800 miles above the surface of Pluto on July 14th, 2015. The entire series of data collected during New Horizons’ encounter with Pluto and Charon is about 6.25 gigabytes and was transmitted to earth at about 1-2 kilobits per second over a distance of roughly 4.5 light-hours from Earth. As of March 2019, New Horizons was about 4.1 billion miles from Earth and continuing its journey deep into the Kuiper Belt at nearly 33,000 miles per hour. The New Horizons mission is currently extended through 2021 with the objective to explore Kuiper Belt objects.
References:
Moore, J. M., McKinnon, W. B., Spencer, J. R., Howard, A. D., Schenk, P. M., Beyer, R. A., Nimmo, F., et al. (2016). The Geology of Pluto and Charon Through the Eyes of New Horizons. Science, 351(6279), 1284-1293. https://10.1126/science.aad7055
Schenk, P., Beyer, R. A., McKinnon, W. B., Moore, J. M., Spencer, J. R., White, O. L., New Horizons Geology and Geophysics Investigation Team, et al. (2018). Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Global Cartography and Topography of Charon from New Horizons. Icarus, 315, 124-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.06.010
- Publisher
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Publication Date
- 14 July 2017
- Author
- New Horizons Team
- Originator
- NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Lunar and Planetary Institute
- Group
- PDS
- Added to Astropedia
- 14 July 2017
- Modified
- 3 February 2020
General
- Purpose
topographic DEM for Charon
- Geospatial Data Presentation Form
- Digital Elevation Model, Global Mosaic, Topographic Map, Raster Data
- Edition
- 2016-12-12T15:42:39
- Online Linkage
- https://planetarymaps.usgs.gov/mosaic/Charon_NewHorizons_Global_DEM_300m_Jul2017_16bit.tif
- Native Data Set Environment
- ISIS v3, GDAL
- Color
- Black and White
- Supplemental Information
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.05702
Keywords
- System
- Pluto
- Target
- Charon
- Theme
- Topography, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry
- Mission
- New Horizons
- Mission Specific
- LORRI, MVIC
- Search Terms
- LORRI, MVIC, Charon
Contact and Distribution
- Access Constraints
- None
- Use Constraints
- Please cite authors
Data Status and Quality
- Time Period of Content Begin
- 14 July 2015
- Time Period of Content End
- 25 October 2016
- Currentness Reference
- Ground condition
- Progress
- Complete
- Update Frequency
- As needed
- Process Date
- 14 July 2017
- Process Description
The original 32bit elevation model used kilometers for the heights. This file was converted to elevation in meters and truncated to 16bit signed values.
- Entity and Attribute Detailed Description
- Elevation values in meters
Lineage
- PDS Status
- PDS 3 Archived
- Source Originator
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Source Publication Date
- 14 July 2017
- Source Title
- Charon's Surface in Detail
- Source Online Linkage
- https://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/holdings/nh-p_psa-lorri_mvic-5-geophys-v1.0/dataset.html , https://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/data_sb/missions/newhorizons/index.shtml
- Type of Source Media
- Online
Geospatial Information
- Minimum Latitude
- -90
- Maximum Latitude
- 90
- Minimum Longitude
- 0
- Maximum Longitude
- 360
- Direct Spatial Reference Method
- Raster
- Object Type
- Pixel
- Lines (pixels)
- 6347
- Samples (pixels)
- 12693
- Bit Type
- 16
- Quad Name
- Radius A
- 606000
- Radius C
- 606000
- Bands
- 1
- Pixel Resolution (meters/pixel)
- 300
- Scale (pixels/degree)
- 35.25565089
- Horizontal Coordinate System Units
- Meters
- Map Projection Name
- Simple Cylindrical
- Latitude Type
- Planetographic
- Longitude Direction
- Positive East
- Longitude Domain
- 0 to 360
