Charon Chasmas (IMAGE)
Caption
An SwRI scientist has revisited New Horizons data to explore the source of cryovolcanic flows and an obvious belt of fractures on Pluto’s large moon Charon. These new models suggest that when the moon’s internal ocean froze, it may have formed the deep, elongated depressions along its girth but was less likely to lead to cryovolcanos erupting with ice, water and other materials in its northern hemisphere. If Charon’s ice shell had been thin enough support cryovolcanism, it would imply substantially more ocean freezing than is indicated by the canyons, Serenity and Mandjet chasmata.
Credit
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
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No restrictions.
License
Public Domain