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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Pluto's Sputnik Planum
Explanation: Is there an ocean below Sputnik Planum on Pluto? The unusually smooth 1000-km wide golden expanse, visible in the featured image from New Horizons , appears segmented into convection cells . But how was this region created? One hypothesis now holds the answer to be a great impact that stirred up an underground ocean of salt water roughly 100-kilometers thick. The featured image of Sputnik Planum , part of the larger heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio , was taken last July and shows true details in exaggerated colors . Although the robotic New Horizons spacecraft is off on a new adventure , continued computer-modeling of this surprising surface feature on Pluto is likely to lead to more refined speculations about what lies beneath .
| Date | November 22, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: NASA , Johns Hopkins U./APL , Southwest Research Inst. |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |