NEW YORK: The New Horizons probe captured images that suggest Pluto might still be developing.
NASA sent a probe to Pluto on a research mission. The New Horizons probe left Earth on January 19th 2006 and flew past the small planet 9 years later, on July 14th 2015. The probe has traveled 3 billion miles in order to discover more about the planet.
These new images show Pluto might still be growing. New Horizons captured images of the surface of the planet and its atmosphere. Even though analyzing the data will take years, scientists have already understood a bit more about Pluto.
They were surprised to find out that Pluto’s terrain is smooth and icy. This proves that the planet is not as old as it was previously believed. In fact, Pluto might still be forming shape. Scientists consider it one of the youngest planets in our Solar System.
The mountains of ice on the surface prove that there is water on Pluto. Scientists have believed that before but they were never able to prove it. Now they are certain that Pluto contains a great amount of water on the inside. They have also confirmed that the planet contains methane, which has previously been found on every planet studied by NASA.
