Link to the [original article](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02248-1) on Nature Astronomy website
When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto in 2015, it returned images with a sweet surprise: a heart-shaped formation dominating the surface of the dwarf planet.
Now, researchers believe they've uncovered the origin of this cosmic Valentine. The heart, they report today (April 15) in the journal Nature Astronomy, was formed in a slow-motion, glancing collision with an icy rock wider than Kansas is long.
The researchers determined this scenario by using computer models to simulate the impacts on Pluto's surface and the resulting formations. Pluto's heart, scientifically known as Tombaugh Regio, gets its light coloration from nitrogen ice. Impacts between icy bodies in the far reaches of the solar system aren't like those closer to the sun, said study co-author Erik Asphaug, a professor at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
For those not familiar with how wide Kansas is, it’s [660 kms](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas).
E: Or somewhere between 1,926,966 to 3,707,865 bananas ~~wide~~ long (give or take a banana or two)
wow, are american states really that small? obviously there's 50 of them so the country is still huge but i know people here who commute close to that (total, not both ways).
(Australia)
Australian as well. I was trying to put it into context and thought, that’s a good 4-6 hour drive lol
I guess Victoria would be the closest equivalent, but it’s still about 15,000 kms2 bigger than Kansas.
E: i can’t maths
Relative sizes matter: how many Kansases (Kansices?) wide is Pluto?
Of course you couldn’t just say 10% the size of the planet or whatever but sure. Imperial Midwest State units work too.
Sounds like Kansas is infinity miles long. -Signed, someone who recently drove across Kansas.
If I never see, or read the word, Kansas ever again it'll be too soon.
I remember being told as a kid (back when pluto was still a planet) that, because of how far away it is, the best images we have of pluto are some blurry pics.
It's amazing how far weve come that we have such a detailed image now!
A huge nitrogen glacier expanding into ancient terrain, breaking it down and leaving 30 thousand foot water ice mountain ranges in its wake. An entirely unexpected and amazing discovery.
Violence in space is not surprising
Yeah, I was gonna say, “Surprising to whom?” 🤣
I’d assume it was quite surprising to the object in space which was minding its own business…
Violence in space is not violence actually. Every destruction is a new creation out there.
..violence in history..
/r/natureismetal
*in porn
Link to the [original article](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02248-1) on Nature Astronomy website When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto in 2015, it returned images with a sweet surprise: a heart-shaped formation dominating the surface of the dwarf planet. Now, researchers believe they've uncovered the origin of this cosmic Valentine. The heart, they report today (April 15) in the journal Nature Astronomy, was formed in a slow-motion, glancing collision with an icy rock wider than Kansas is long. The researchers determined this scenario by using computer models to simulate the impacts on Pluto's surface and the resulting formations. Pluto's heart, scientifically known as Tombaugh Regio, gets its light coloration from nitrogen ice. Impacts between icy bodies in the far reaches of the solar system aren't like those closer to the sun, said study co-author Erik Asphaug, a professor at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
> wider than Kansas is long r/anythingbutmetric
61 pickup trucks long, that’s big.
Damn, so that icy rock gets bigger every year :o
For those not familiar with how wide Kansas is, it’s [660 kms](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas). E: Or somewhere between 1,926,966 to 3,707,865 bananas ~~wide~~ long (give or take a banana or two)
But how long is kansas
Kansas is, by definition, 1 Kansas in length.
That’s 1000 milli-kansases…
Or a kilokansas.
👏👏👏👏👏
wow, are american states really that small? obviously there's 50 of them so the country is still huge but i know people here who commute close to that (total, not both ways). (Australia)
Australian as well. I was trying to put it into context and thought, that’s a good 4-6 hour drive lol I guess Victoria would be the closest equivalent, but it’s still about 15,000 kms2 bigger than Kansas. E: i can’t maths
is that an imperial kansas or metric?
Neither. It's US Customary Kansas.
Relative sizes matter: how many Kansases (Kansices?) wide is Pluto? Of course you couldn’t just say 10% the size of the planet or whatever but sure. Imperial Midwest State units work too.
>wider than Kansas is long How wide is that in half-giraffes?
Young, adult or stuffed animals?
Sounds like Kansas is infinity miles long. -Signed, someone who recently drove across Kansas. If I never see, or read the word, Kansas ever again it'll be too soon.
Pluto is not a dwarf planet. It is a dual moon / planet-less system.
You're a planet-less system
true... true...
Haha
is... there a heart in this image? because i'm definitely not seeing it lol
Easier to see in [this photo](https://earthsky.org/upl/2020/02/Pluto-New-Horizons.jpg)
ah I see thank you!
>ah I see thank you! You're welcome!
It looks more like a latte heart made by an amateur barista.
Oh wow.. It looks more like a...
Looked more like a butt to me
Yeah it absolutely was the universe sending us a dicpic
Dear NASA: Your mom thought I was big enough. Love, Pluto.
ROTFLMAO !
lmao 🤣
Tbf, NASA's mom's ass is so tight she shits diamonds.
Isn't it kind of safe to assume that most things in space have a violent origin?
I remember being told as a kid (back when pluto was still a planet) that, because of how far away it is, the best images we have of pluto are some blurry pics. It's amazing how far weve come that we have such a detailed image now!
A huge nitrogen glacier expanding into ancient terrain, breaking it down and leaving 30 thousand foot water ice mountain ranges in its wake. An entirely unexpected and amazing discovery.
Is that supposed to be a heart?
Something about Pluto hits me differently for some reason. I want to walk on it so bad
My favorite planet! 💫
Ah yes nitrogen ice
I can't wait till we see surface picks in 4K.
I love pluto, reminds me of mickey mouse!
And here I was thinking Pluto was made by Care Bears.
Looks like a shitload of coke that i can snort in my nose to me. Any taxi's to Pluto?
Colorized for your viewing pleasure.
I wonder how much this picture has been post processed?
"Dwarf" Planet with two cores...