NASA probe finds second mountain range in Pluto's 'heart'

Washington, July 22: The New Horizons probe has found a second mountain range situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain on the lower-left edge of Pluto. The new, less lofty mountain range lies near the bright, heart-shaped southwestern margin of Pluto's Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region). The newly-discovered frozen peaks are estimated to be one-1.5 kms high, about the same height as the US' Appalachian Mountains. The new range is just west of the region within Pluto's heart called Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain). The peaks lie some 110 kms northwest of Norgay Montes (icy Norgay Mountains) discovered first by New Horizons on July 15. This newest image further illustrates the remarkably well-defined topography along the western edge of Tombaugh Regio. This image was acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on board New Horizons from a distance of 77,000 kms and sent back to Earth on July 20.