Plutos Sputnik Planum
Explanation:
Is there an ocean below Sputnik Planum on Pluto?
The unusually smooth 1000-km wide golden expanse, visible in the
featured
image from
New Horizons, appears segmented
into
convection cells.
But how was this region created?
One
hypothesis now holds the
answer to be a
great impact that stirred up an
underground ocean of salt water roughly 100-kilometers thick.
The
featured
image of
Sputnik Planum, part
of the larger heart-shaped
Tombaugh
Regio, was
taken last July
and shows true details in
exaggerated colors.
Although the robotic
New Horizons
spacecraft is off on a
new adventure,
continued computer-modeling of this surprising surface feature on
Pluto
is likely to lead to more refined speculations about
what lies beneath.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
