When New Horizons first return images of Pluto and Charon , one matter was now seeming – their Earth’s surface were not the barren , featureless places we had been expecting . Instead , they are pockmarked by craters , mountains , and more .
But one feature in fussy on Charon hascaught the eye of astronomers . Informally diagnose Serenity Chasma , this canyon has two steep wall and is part of a long system of chasm , one of the longest in the Solar System . The whole system of rules is about 1,800 kilometers ( 1,100 miles ) long and up to 7.5 kilometers ( 4.5 Swedish mile ) cryptic , giving the synodic month a vast equatorial “ whack ” .
allot to NASA , a subsurface sea may have been the cause of this canyon . We know the outer layer of Charon is mostly frappe , but the internal Sun Myung Moon may have once been warm enough to melt this ice under the aerofoil , forming a vast ocean not too dissimilar to that on Europa or Enceladus .
When Charon began to cool , this sea froze and thus expanded as the piss turned to internal-combustion engine . This would have stretched the surface , shape the so - prognosticate “ pull aside ” faults we can see today . Indeed , similar features are found on other humanity like Europa , although in that instance it ’s think to be have by thetidal effect of Jupiter .
The topography of the realm has been color - rag here . NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
even so , an ancient ocean on Charon would be a meaning finding , showing that liquid water really can jump up in all lieu in the Solar System . This could have implications for the chances of life starting elsewhere aside from Earth , although of course , no one is jumping to the conclusion that Charon may once have been inhabitable under its control surface yet .
The image of the Serenity Chasma region was captured by the Long - Range Reconnaissance Imager ( LORRI ) on New Horizons during its closest feeler onJuly 14 , 2015 . The image was taken from a space of about 78,700 kilometre ( 48,900 mile ) , with a resolution of 394 m ( 1,290 foot ) per pel .
