Atlanta, Georgia – Astronomers have long been fascinated by the heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto, captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015. This distinctive heart, known as Tombaugh Regio, has raised questions about the dwarf planet’s origins for years. Now, researchers believe they have unraveled the mystery behind the creation of this unique feature, shedding light on the history of Pluto.
Tombaugh Regio, named after the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto in 1930, is not a uniform element as scientists have discovered. The region’s elevation, geological composition, and highly reflective surface have puzzled researchers for decades. The heart-shaped feature consists of a deep basin called Sputnik Planitia, which contains a significant amount of nitrogen ice, covering an area about the size of one-quarter of the United States.
Through new research on Sputnik Planitia, an international team of scientists has determined that a cataclysmic event involving a planetary body colliding with Pluto early in its history created the heart-shaped feature. This groundbreaking finding, published in Nature Astronomy, provides insights into the formation of Pluto and its internal structure.
Using numerical simulations, researchers found that the planetary body likely collided with Pluto at a slanted angle, leaving a splat on the dwarf planet’s surface. The collision created a teardrop shape in Sputnik Planitia, influenced by Pluto’s core temperature and the impactor’s velocity.
Furthermore, the study suggests that Pluto’s heart feature could offer valuable information about the mysterious dwarf planet’s murky origins. Understanding how this unique geological formation came to be is crucial in unraveling the history of Pluto, a distant celestial body that has only recently been explored up close by the New Horizons mission.
Scientists emphasize the importance of further exploring Pluto’s subsurface to gather more data that could help distinguish between various hypotheses surrounding its formation. Despite the challenges of studying a planet at the edge of the solar system, continued research and potential missions to orbit Pluto could provide invaluable insights into its geological history and evolution over time.