Canyons Around Plutos North Pole
by Science Source
Title
Canyons Around Plutos North Pole
Artist
Science Source
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveals yet another story of Pluto's diversity of geological and compositional features in this enhanced color image of the north polar area. Long canyons run vertically across the polar area, part of the informally named Lowell Regio, named for Percival Lowell, who founded Lowell Observatory and initiated the search that led to Pluto's discovery. The widest of the canyons is about 45 miles (75 kilometers) wide and runs close to the north pole. Roughly parallel subsidiary canyons to the east and west are approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. The degraded walls of these canyons appear to be much older than the more sharply defined canyon systems elsewhere on Pluto, perhaps because the polar canyons are older and made of weaker material. These canyons also appear to represent evidence for an ancient period of tectonics.
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April 5th, 2016
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