This is the first evidence of recently flowing liquid on Pluto, reported NASA , according to the researchers. A new analysis of images collected during NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft’s 2015 flyby of Pluto has found evidence that liquid nitrogen is rising to the surface through cracks along the northern edge of Sputnik Planitia, a part of the dwarf planet’s giant heart-shaped glacier.
He added that the findings suggest liquids have recently reached Pluto’s surface and also point to a new kind of time-variable feature on the dwarf planet. The study was carried out by planetary science experts who study Pluto along with specialists in terrestrial glaciology. Because liquid nitrogen rises to the surface from beneath the glacier, the new research, published on July 31 in The Planetary Science Journal, indicates that these dark linear and diffuse features may occasionally and temporarily become wet, most likely.
Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and lead author of the study from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said that Pluto never stops surprising scientists.
