Pluto Has Towers of Ice 1,600 Feet Tall


Pluto, our solar system’s former ninth planet and current dwarf planet, has another surprise for us: landscape features seen on only one other planet—Earth.

Called “penitentes” after their resemblance of a crowd in kneeling penance, these icy spires can reach over 1,600 feet tall. Here on Earth, the same features are found in the Dry Andes above 13,000 feet, but they only grow to about 16 feet. Scientists suspected Europa might have these icy towers as well, but Pluto’s the first world to show real evidence of them outside Earth.

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