Launched in 2006, the New Horizons Space Probe set out with the mission to get the best view of Pluto that we humans have ever seen. And it just so happens that we succeeded! We are now seeing the absolute best images that we have ever seen of the famed dwarf planet. Recently, Pluto has been getting the spotlight for an interesting feature found by New Horizons.
A recent image of the planet shows a spider shaped feature on the surface of the planet. What do I mean by spider shaped? Take a look at this image yourself:
Interestingly, astronomers do not know exactly what they are looking at. “The pattern these fractures form is like nothing else we’ve seen in the outer solar system, and shows once again that anywhere we look on Pluto, we see something different” said Oliver White, part of the New Horizons geology team. So for now, all we know is that they are fractures in the surface of the “dwarf planet” that happen to be in a very interesting shape. It will be interesting to see what we learn about this oddity in the future!
