When NASA Saw Pluto’s “Heart || 1-minute fact #18k

When NASA saw the first close-up images of Pluto, they were shocked to see a heart-shaped feature on the dwarf planet. It was something that had never been seen in the solar system before. The unusual feature was spotted by New Horizons in 2015 and named Tombaugh Regio. Due to its apparent shape, it gained the popular nickname “heart”. The left “ventricle” of the heart resembling an ice cream cone is called Sputnik Planitia and it is of great interest to astronomers. It’s a 3-km deep icy basin filled with nitrogen ice, methane and carbon monoxide. It plays a crucial role in the atmospheric circulation of nitrogen winds. The warmth of the Sun causes evaporation of nitrogen ice and the gases which later condense and settle back as ice during the night. This rhythmic cycle is likened to a poetic heartbeat of Pluto.
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