The first published scientific data from NASA’s New Horizons mission, which has captured the most detailed portrait to date of the well-known and distant dwarf planet , has revealed that the landscape of Pluto is filled with glaciers, water and organic compounds, something that surprises and puzzles the experts.
And it is that in the new image released by NASA accompanied by a complete study led by researcher Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder , Colorado (USA) on Pluto and its moons, shows a planet with intense color contrasts and varied landscapes .
“The surface of Pluto shows diverse forms of relief, with terrains that vary in age, color, composition and albedos. We have found evidence of a frozen water crust, geologically young surfaces , ice convection, glacier flow, gusts of wind and transport of volatile compounds, ”explains Stern, leader of the study.
All this would indicate that the surface of Pluto would be the result of various geological processes of erosion and recycling – fruit of the last hundreds of millions of years – and that they are possibly still active today . “The varied geology of the surface and that long activity raise fundamental questions about how small planets like this can remain active for billions of years after their formation,” says Stern.
The data sent by the New Horizons probe – in which there is still information to be received – also confirm the presence of an atmosphere with hydrocarbons and a pressure of 10 microbars (lower than expected), as well as a layer of bluish haze that they surround it completely.
The study has been published in the journal Science .
