“NASA Shares Stunning Photo of Heart-Shaped Glacier on Pluto’s Surface”

The NASA space agency regularly takes stunning pictures of our universe, leaving space enthusiasts in awe. On Sunday, NASA shared on Instagram a stunning photo taken by the New Horizons spacecraft showing a heart-shaped block of ice on Pluto’s surface. The heart-shaped area is informally known as the Tombaugh Regio and is made of nitrogen and methane.

The image reads: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Our New Horizons spacecraft captured this heart-shaped glacier. It is located on Pluto’s surface, which also features mountains, cliffs, valleys, craters, and plains, and is thought to be made of methane and nitrogen ice.

See the picture here:

The image has been described as “Pluto’s surface is characterized by brown cracks and craters. A partially visible core appeared at the bottom right of a small world surrounded by black space.

New Horizons launched in January 2006 and reached Pluto in July 2015, flying within 7,800 miles of the surface, becoming the first probe to fly near Pluto and its moons. The deep spacecraft also visited the distant Kuiper belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) in January 2019.

Instagram users liked the photo and shared various comments. One user wrote, “Wow what a catch, thanks to the New Horizon spacecraft.” Another commented, “For me, Pluto will always be a planet.”

The third said: Why is Pluto not a plane? The fourth said: ‘Separating does not mean you are not part of the family. ”

Pluto was once considered the ninth planet in the solar system, but in 2006 it was downgraded and reclassified as a dwarf planet. International Astronomical Union The IAU downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria used by the IAU to determine a full-sized planet.

Pluto is just over 1,400 miles (2,250 km) across, or about half the width of the United States or two-thirds the width of the Moon. With an average temperature of -387 F (-232 C) – Pluto’s surface is covered in ice made of water, methane and nitrogen and is thought to have a rocky core and possibly a deep ocean.