New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise — a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body. Credits: NASA/JHU APL/SwRI
NASA released photos and news of several discoveries–Pluto’s icy mountains and its moon Charon’s youthful topography–chief among them.
The mountains are near Pluto’s equator and they are merely 100 million years young (considering the age of the solar system is 4.56 billion years). Charon’s surface surprised scientists with its lack of craters. New Horizons also took pictures of potato-shaped Hydra, another one of Pluto’s moons.
This is just the beginning of the many stunning images that will surely follow. So, grab a bucket of popcorn, sit back and enjoy!
S.G. Basu is an aspiring potentate of a galaxy or two. She plots and plans with wondrous machines, cybernetic robots, time travelers and telekinetic adventurers, some of whom escape into the pages of her books. Once upon a previous life on planet Earth, S.G. Basu trained to be an engineer, and her interest in science and her love of engineering shows up time and again in her books.
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