Sputnik Planitia in Color (IMAGE)

University of Arizona

Sputnik Planitia in Color

Caption

Sputnik Planitia (the left lobe of Pluto's "heart") is believed to be the outer solar system equivalent of a lunar "mascon" (mass concentration). Like mascons on the Moon, Sputnik Planitia is believed to be an impact basin, filled in with lavas (on Pluto, cryogenic ices take the place of lavas).

Credit

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

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