Pluto’s Moon Charon Has A Canyon Grander Than Grand Canyon

Charon, the largest moon of Pluto, has an unusual canyon which is deeper and longer than our Grand Canyon. A new image captured by NASA's New Horizons Mission reportedly revealed the presence of the super canyon.

Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, has a canyon system far longer & deeper than the Grand Canyon: https://t.co/JxgRZWq7iY pic.twitter.com/hHpZoaiHKr

— NASA (@NASA) June 24, 2016

"The inset above magnifies a portion of the eastern limb in the global view of Charon at left, imaged by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft several hours before its closest approach on July 14, 2015," stated NASA. "A deep canyon is seen grazing the limb. The section of it seen here measures approximately 300 kilometers long".

Informally called Argo Chasma, Charon's canyon is 700 kilometers long whereas the Grand Canyon in US is just 450 kilometers in length. The scientists from the New Horizons probe have estimated that the canyon is about nine kilometers deep, which makes it five times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The canyon also has sheer cliffs along its length which are high enough to give competition to the Verona Rupes cliffs on the Uranus moon Miranda, so far the tallest known cliff in the solar system.

The image of Argo Chasma was captured by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), at a resolution of around 2.33 kilometers per pixel. LORRI took the photo at a distance of around 466,000 km from Charon on July 14 last year, 9 hours and 22 minutes before during New Horizons' closest approach to the moon.

Charon had a sub surface ocean in the past that froze and expanded over time, gradually pushing outward which resulted in the stretching and fracturing of the moon's surface on an enormous scale, as revealed by the images sent back by New Horizons. The largest moon of Pluto has a network of pull apart tectonic faults, which are seen in the form of deep valleys, scarps and ridges, which are a proof of the past expansion of Charon.