The recent impressive flyby of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft and the surprising revelations that its close up photography revealed about the planet reminded me of the Italian version of Sydney’s HERE BE TYGERS which is entitled L’ENIGMA DI PLUTONE   ( THE PLUTO ENIGMA), a story which starts with Jeff and Mac surveying the planet in their ship the “Galileo “ before being sent to investigate a strange ship which is lying out beyond the Pluto system. Like all other depictions of Pluto before New Horizons revealed   its active geology and young surface, the Hawke version of the dwarf planet is of an old ,many cratered world beset by jagged mountains. Hawke comments that the atmosphere is “frozen to the rocks” and indeed it is now thought that the “ice`’ on Pluto’s pole is frozen molecular nitrogen.

As it hurtled past Pluto at almost 31,000 mph New horizons also captured detailed images of Pluto’s moon Charon which proved another surprise with its geologically active surface, showing a huge canyon somewhat reminiscent of the Valles Marinaris on Mars.

Sydney produced a colour painting of a spacecraft   in orbit between Pluto and Charon a few years back, entitled “At the systems edge” an image which was reproduced in black and white in the JH cosmos ( Vol.3 no.3)

We are reproducing here for the first time the full colour version.

Skipper Prossit