TORONTO – NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has photographed a new mountain range on the surface of Pluto.
The range was found in Tombaugh Regio, west of the region within the “heart” of Pluto, called Sputnik Planum.
The peaks of the mountains are estimated to be about 1 to 1.5 kilometres high, equal to that of the Appalachian Mountains. As a comparison, Norgay Montes — another range found on Pluto — is closer to that of the Rocky Mountains.
READ MORE: NASA releases new images of two of Pluto’s moons
The two mountain ranges illustrate the diverse topography across a world many thought would be somewhat featureless.
Scientists are also trying to better understand the geological life of Pluto: Sputnik Planum is believed to be just 100 million years old — relatively young — while scientists believe that the darker regions could be billions of years old.
“There is a pronounced difference in texture between the younger, frozen plains to the east and the dark, heavily-cratered terrain to the west,” said Jeff Moore, leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “There’s a complex interaction going on between the bright and the dark materials that we’re still trying to understand.”
The image was taken on July 14, from a distance of about 77,000 km. It was sent back to Earth on July 20.
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