Facts about Pluto's nitrogen ice plains
- 09
Analysis of New Horizons images suggests Pluto's nitrogen ice plains may be only 200 million years old, making them among the youngest geological features in the outer solar system.
- 08
Radar observations suggest Pluto's nitrogen ice plains may contain subsurface liquid water or cryogenic fluids that enable the slow creep and deformation observed across Sputnik Planitia's surface.
- 07
Pluto's nitrogen ice plains display evidence of past cryovolcanic activity, with researchers identifying possible cryovolcanic features that suggest water-ammonia mixtures erupted onto the surface billions of years ago.
- 06
New Horizons data revealed that Pluto's nitrogen ice plains contain water ice bedrock beneath their surface, denser and stronger than the nitrogen ice flowing above it.
- 05
Bright methane ice deposits edge Pluto's nitrogen ice plains, creating a sharp color contrast visible in New Horizons imagery from 15,000 kilometers away.
- 04
Convection cells within Pluto's nitrogen ice plains create polygonal surface patterns similar to those found in Earth's hexagonal basalt formations, suggesting active thermal circulation beneath the icy crust.
- 03
Temperature measurements from New Horizons revealed Pluto's nitrogen ice plains reach approximately minus 223 degrees Celsius, cold enough to preserve surface features for billions of years.
- 02
Nitrogen ice in Pluto's plains flows slowly like a glacier, moving at rates of approximately 0.3 meters per year across the surface.
- 01
Sputnik Planitia, Pluto's nitrogen ice plains discovered by New Horizons in 2015, covers approximately 1.6 million square kilometers.