It wasn’t till the New Horizons flyby in 2015 that we received our first, high-resolution images of the planet’s surface.
![sleipnir fossa sleipnir fossa](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--hh8092By--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/nntenbkqkvcrvzu8hhri.jpg)
Hubble’s observations in 2002 through to 2003 didn’t reveal much more than a brightness map of the surface. We knew that it existed, but little else even its mass was being debated well into 2006. Elliot Crater recognizes James Elliot (1943-2011), an MIT researcher who pioneered the use of stellar occultations to study the Solar System, leading to discoveries such as the rings of Uranus and the first detection of Pluto’s thin atmosphere.An image of Pluto as captured by the New Horizons spacecraftĪs sad as it was, the ninth planet (Hey, we’re not going to disown the little fella just ‘cause he’s a dwarf.) in the solar system still remained a mystery.Tartarus Dorsa is a ridge called Tartarus, the deepest and darkest pit of the underworld in Greek mythology.The Voyager probe is now exploring the boundary between the Sun and interstellar space. Voyager Terra honors the pair of NASA spacecraft, launched in 1977, that made the first "grand tour" of the four giant planets.Hayabusa Terra is a large land mass that honors the Japanese spacecraft and its mission (2003-2010), which brought the first asteroid sample to Earth.Adlivun Cavus is a deep depression called Adlivun, the underworld in Inuit mythology.Virgil Fossae honors Virgil, one of the greatest Roman poets and Dante’s fictional guide through hell and purgatory in the Divine Comedy.Sleipnir Fossa is named after the mighty eight-legged horse from Norse mythology that carried the god Odin to the underworld.Djanggawul Fossae defines a network of long, narrow depressions named for the Djanggawuls, three ancestral beings from indigenous Australian mythology who traveled between the Island of the Dead and Australia, creating the landscape and filling it with vegetation.Al-Idrisi Montes honors Ash-Sharif al-Idrisi (1100-1165 / 66), a well-known Arab cartographer and geographer whose landmark work on medieval geography is sometimes translated as "The Pleasure of One Who Longs to Cross Horizons".
![sleipnir fossa sleipnir fossa](https://stellar2016.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/56740main_sedna-art-580x435.jpg)