“If an artist had painted this Pluto before our flyby, I probably would have called it over the top – but that’s what is actually there,” said NASA’s mission’s principal investigator, Alan Stern. These new up-close photos released today show wide plains, mountains, valleys, deltas that could’ve formerly had moving liquids, and possibly dunes, which implies strong winds, which no one expected to find on the dwarf planet. Continue reading for more pictures, a video and additional information.
“Seeing dunes on Pluto – if that is what they are – would be completely wild, because Pluto’s atmosphere today is so thin. Either Pluto had a thicker atmosphere in the past, or some process we haven’t figured out is at work,” said William McKinnon, deputy lead of the Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team.
