Pluto's Icy Plains Contains 'X' Marks, Researchers Are Curious

"X" marks found on Pluto's icy plains have astronomers quite curious about the alphabetical inscription on the planet's surface, after NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured the image and then transmitted to it Earth on Dec. 24, according to a news release. The image was taken with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) that extends the New Horizons' highest-resolution views of Pluto to its center Sputnik Planum, which is also known as the icy plain on the side of Pluto's "heart" feature.

Pluto's Sputnik Planum has a low elevation compared to most of its nearby areas by a few miles, however, it is not completely flat. The surface is made of two cells, or polygons, which are 10 to 25 miles (16 to 40 kilometers) wide. When viewed at low sun angles, the cells appear to have slightly raised centers and ridged margins, which are a 100 yards (100 meters) in overall height.

The mission scientists believe that these cells stems were formed from the slow thermal convection of the nitrogen-dominated ice that filled Sputnik Planum. The researchers believe that there is a reservoir that is several miles deep in some areas. Solid nitrogen is warmed in the depth of Pluto's mild internal heat, where it becomes active and rises in bobs. It eventually cools and sinks to form a new cycle again, according to the researchers.

"This part of Pluto is acting like a lava lamp... If you can imagine a lava lamp as wide as, and even deeper than, the Hudson Bay," William McKinnon, deputy lead of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team, from Washington University, said in a news release.  

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