Pluto is a small, icy dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. Its diameter is about 1,473 miles (2,370 km), roughly two-thirds the size of Earth's Moon
. Surface Appearance and Features:
- Pluto's surface is highly varied in color and brightness, ranging from charcoal black to dark orange, white, and reddish hues. It is one of the most contrastive bodies in the Solar System, second only to Saturn's moon Iapetus in terms of surface contrast
- The most iconic feature on Pluto is a large, bright, heart-shaped region called Tombaugh Regio. The western lobe of this "heart" is Sputnik Planitia, a vast basin of frozen nitrogen and carbon monoxide ices about 1,000 km wide, featuring polygonal convection cells and glacial flows
- Pluto's surface is coated with ices of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, with nitrogen ice making up about 98% of the plains. Methane is more abundant near certain longitudes, and water ice forms the bedrock and mountain ranges
- Mountains on Pluto can reach heights of 6,500 to 11,000 feet (2 to 3.5 kilometers) and are primarily composed of water ice, which is strong enough to support such peaks despite Pluto’s low gravity. These ice mountains sometimes have coatings of frozen methane or nitrogen
- The surface also includes valleys, craters (some up to 162 miles or 260 km wide), and large dark regions such as the "Brass Knuckles," which are thought to be covered in tholins-complex hydrocarbons formed by cosmic ray interactions with methane and nitrogen
- Pluto shows signs of geological activity, including tectonic resurfacing and glacial flows, suggesting a dynamic surface despite its frigid temperatures, which range from about -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-226 to -240 degrees Celsius)
In summary, Pluto looks like a colorful, icy world with a striking heart- shaped bright region, towering water-ice mountains, vast nitrogen ice plains with polygonal patterns, dark hydrocarbon-covered areas, and a complex, varied landscape shaped by ongoing geological processes
