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Jump39of 100 · 5,760 M km from Earth

Pluto: a heart of frozen nitrogen

Pluto has a nitrogen glacier in its heart and, with Charon, almost forms a double planet. Curious facts about Pluto with their sources.

Pluto, on the left, and its moon Charon, on the right, in false colour, photographed by New Horizons
False colour Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute · original

Curious facts

  1. The heart is half glacier

    The bright heart-shaped region New Horizons photographed in 2015 is called Tombaugh Regio. The glacier is only its left half, Sputnik Planitia: a plain of frozen nitrogen with no craters, a sign that it is young. 1

  2. Signs of liquid

    In August 2026 NASA published evidence of liquid nitrogen rising through cracks along the northern edge of the glacier. 2

  3. Almost a double planet

    Its moon Charon is half the size of Pluto, and the two always show each other the same face. That is why they are sometimes called a double dwarf planet system. 3

Pluto in Orbit

In the game, Pluto is jump 39 of the route, 5,760 M km from Earth. Its logbook card says:

Logbook · Jump 39

Has a heart-shaped glacier of nitrogen ice

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What Orbit is like

Sources

  1. NASA, Pluto Facts. science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/facts
  2. NASA, 2026. science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/08/05/nasas-new-horizons-finds-evidence-of-recent-liquid-on-plutos-surface
  3. NASA, Charon. science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/moons/charon

Checked between 8 and 11 October 2026.

False colour Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute · original