VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
The Heart That Keeps Changing
A young nitrogen-ice plain raises a deeper question about Pluto’s interior.
Pluto’s bright heart holds a surprisingly young nitrogen-ice plain, while its deeper interior remains unresolved. AI-generated illustration inspired by New Horizons observations.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
New Horizons mapped Pluto’s bright heart and found terrain with few impact craters on Sputnik Planitia. Surface renewal is supported by those observations; a liquid-water ocean beneath the shell remains an inference with competing explanations.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
The composition visualizes this idea: A young nitrogen-ice plain raises a deeper question about Pluto’s interior. Pluto’s bright heart holds a surprisingly young nitrogen-ice plain, while its deeper interior remains unresolved. AI-generated illustration inspired by New Horizons observations.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
The article starts at Sputnik Planitia’s renewing nitrogen ice and follows New Horizons clues into Pluto’s unresolved interior. It compares ocean interpretations with alternatives, then turns to possible cryovolcanism and the chemical link with Charon. This frame focuses on a young nitrogen-ice plain raises a deeper question about Pluto’s interior.
Read Pluto May Be Hiding an Ocean Beneath Its HeartCHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
NASA: New Horizons mission history and discoveries NASA: Pluto facts International Astronomical Union: The 2006 planet definition NASA: Convection and surface renewal in Pluto’s heart McKinnon and colleagues: Convection in a volatile nitrogen-ice-rich layer drives Pluto’s geological vigour NASA: Modeling glacial flow on Pluto NASA: Pluto’s mysterious floating hills NASA: Basin reorientation and the ocean hypothesis Bierson, Nimmo and Stern: Evidence for a hot start and early ocean formation on Pluto Ballantyne and colleagues: Sputnik Planitia as an impactor remnant indicative of an ancient rocky mascon in an oceanless Pluto Singer and colleagues: Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto NASA: Pluto paints its largest moon redOTHER IMAGE STORIES
Keep looking.
One Flyby, a Changed World
A Plain That Overturns Slowly
The Mark Shared by Titan and PlutoEXPLORE IN 3D / MAP 07
Explore Pluto and its companion
Move around Pluto and Charon, then compare the illustrated worlds with New Horizons evidence. The viewer shows surface context without confirming or exposing a liquid ocean beneath Pluto’s ice.
Open Pluto & Charon map