This is how Pluto managed to get his “heart”

A new study shows that the impact of an ice cliff more than 700 km long released nitrogen ice that covered the entire area. Modeling also suggests that Pluto may not have an underground ocean.

The strange heart of Pluto’s surface has fascinated scientists for more than a decade. NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwestern Research Institute)

Jose Manuel Nieves

When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015, the first images it sent back to Earth contained an unexpected surprise: a strange, huge, bright, heart-shaped region standing out brightly against the planet’s dark surface.

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