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New Horizons Close-Up of Charon’s "Mountain in a Moat" This new image of an area on Pluto's largest moon Charon has a captivating feature, a depression with a peak in the middle, shown here in the upper left corner of the inset.  The image shows an area approximately 240 miles (390 kilometers) from top to bottom, including few visible craters. “The most intriguing feature is a large mountain sitting in a moat,” said Jeff Moore with NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, who leads New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team. “This is a feature that has geologists stunned and stumped.” This image gives a preview of what the surface of this large moon will look like in future close-ups from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. This image is heavily compressed; sharper versions are anticipated when the full-fidelity data from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, LORRI are returned to Earth. The rectangle superimposed on the global view of Charon shows the approximate location of this close-up view. The image was taken at approximately 6:30 a.m. EDT (10:30 UTC) on July 14, 2015, about 1.5 hours before closest approach to Pluto, from a range of 49,000 miles (79,000 kilometers). Image Credit: NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI |
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I wonder if that is a 'slow asteroid' that hit the surface when it was a bit softer while still cooling or sort of partially hardened and it's the tail end sticking out? Or possibly the result of a popped bubble effect when the surface was ever so sligltly still liquid and cooled before it fell back flat? Just wild guesses though. It cant be a fast hit or there'd be a crater. Interesting, great to arouse curiosity. Judgment Day will be interesting - and all paths lead there.
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That certainly is a mystery. It will be fascinating to she the feature in much more detail but I am not sure how much more we will know even if we do.
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