Pluto’s Glacial Heart Hints at Recent Liquid Nitrogen Activity

A new analysis of NASA’s New Horizons images of Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia suggests liquid nitrogen may have recently flowed beneath the dwarf planet’s heart-shaped glacier, producing dark surface patterns. While Pluto’s thin atmosphere today makes liquid-nitrogen rain impossible, simulations show underground liquid nitrogen could travel through conduits and remain liquid long enough to form the observed features, indicating a time‑variable process on astronomical timescales and underscoring the need for future observations.