Facts about Tombaugh Region
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New Horizons images reveal that Tombaugh Region's boundary between the bright western lobe and dark eastern lobe represents one of Pluto's most dramatic compositional transitions on its surface.
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Tombaugh Region's western lobe rises approximately 3 kilometers above Pluto's mean elevation, making it among the highest terrain features on the dwarf planet's surface.
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Measurements from New Horizons revealed that Sputnik Planitia contains frozen methane, carbon monoxide, and ethane ices layered beneath the nitrogen ice surface.
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Sputnik Planitia, the western lobe of Tombaugh Region, displays a convection pattern with polygonal cells approximately 16 to 40 kilometers across, indicating active cryovolcanic processes.
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Pluto's heart-shaped Tombaugh Region creates wind patterns that transport nitrogen ice particles across its surface at speeds exceeding one meter per second.
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The eastern lobe of Tombaugh Region contains Cthulhu Macula, a dark reddish area rich in tholins that absorbs more solar radiation than the surrounding terrain.
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Nitrogen ice covers much of the western lobe in the Tombaugh Region, with measurements from New Horizons indicating depths reaching several hundred meters thick.
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Clyde Tombaugh discovered this heart-shaped region on Pluto in 2015, located in the southwestern hemisphere and spanning approximately 1,600 kilometers across.