pluto:scientist new discoveries

Now that the New Horizons probe has successfully flown past Pluto and confirmed to Nasa that it is all in one piece, researchers can look forward to a "waterfall" of images and data from the strange, distant world over the next 16 months. But even though just a couple of pictures from the dwarf planet have been released so far, scientists are learning more from these than they have in years of attempted observations by telescope. What is Pluto's heart made from? For 60 years scientists have known that there was a bright mass on Pluto, but it was only through the increased resolution provided by the cameras on board New Horizons that detailed its distinctive heart shape. The shape, instantly beloved on social media, is believed to have been caused by an impact at some point in history. One side of the heart is smoother than the other. Researchers believe the crater is filled with frozen gases from the atmosphere - namely nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. However a false coloured photo from Pluto released by Nasa indicates that the heart is actually broken in two. The colours show different chemical signatures in the image. On the left it is a type of beige while on the right is a mosaic of blue, these indicate that the two parts had different geologic or tectonic origins. Is Pluto another red planet? The initial image released by Nasa had a reddish hue, something that scientists have long known. It's very different from the other red planet, Mars, in that the colour of the more distant, tiny world is likely caused by hydrocarbon molecules called tholins, that are formed when solar ultraviolet light and cosmic rays interact with methane in Pluto's atmosphere and on its surface