Highest resolution image of Pluto yet shows giant mountains of ice

6 December 2015

Bill Condie

Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.

Pluto giant mountains — NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The highest-resolution image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft yet to be released shows in detail the giant mountains of ice on the fringe of the dwarf planet’s heart-shaped plain.

Some of these blocks of ice stand up to 2.4 kilometres high and show signs of being violently rammed up against each other.

NASA has provisionally named the region the al-Idrisi mountains.

The plain within the heart-shaped region, named informally Sputnik Planum, can be seen in the false colour image of Pluto below. It consists of soft, nitrogen-rich ices that form a nearly level surface.

This view above is about 80 kilometres wide.