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NASA spacecraft discovers frozen plains in Pluto’s ‘heart’
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has discovered a vast, craterless plain
in Pluto's 'heart' that appears to be no more than 100 million years
old.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has discovered a vast,
craterless plain in Pluto’s ‘heart’ that appears to be no more than 100
million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic
processes.
This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains, in the centre-left of the heart feature informally named Tombaugh Region.
“This terrain is not easy to explain,” said Jeff Moore, leader of the
New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA’s Ames
Research Centre in California.
“The discovery of vast, craterless, very young plains on Pluto exceeds all pre-flyby expectations,” said Moore.
This fascinating icy plains region – resembling frozen mud cracks on
Earth – has been informally named “Sputnik Planum” (Sputnik Plain) after
the Earth’s first artificial satellite.
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