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Planetary science

Pluto's telltale heart

Nature volume 540, pages 42–43 (2016)Cite this article

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Studies of a large frost-filled basin on Pluto show that this feature altered the dwarf planet's spin axis, driving tectonic activity on its surface, and hint at the presence of a subsurface ocean. See Letters p.86, p.90, p.94 & p.97

Pluto is one of the dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, a family of objects beyond the orbit of Neptune that are about half the size of Earth's Moon, and is composed of solid water ice and rock. On Pluto, an outer shell of water ice behaves like bedrock — the ice is shaped into mountains, fractures and faults by internal tectonic forces5, and forms impact craters when objects strike the dwarf planet6.

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Figure 1: Sputnik Planitia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amy C. Barr is at the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona 85719-2395, USA.,

    Amy C. Barr

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  1. Amy C. Barr
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Correspondence to Amy C. Barr.

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Barr, A. Pluto's telltale heart. Nature 540, 42–43 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/540042a

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