Hey, Mars, you’ve got company. Looks like there’s a second “red planet” in the Solar System — Pluto. Color images returned from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now just 10 days from its encounter with the dwarf planet, show a distinctly ruddy surface with patchy markings that strongly resemble Mars’ appearance in a small telescope.
![Animation of Pluto rotating from photos taken by New Horizons two weeks before the flyby. Credit:](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pluto-rotateSMALL.gif)
On Mars, iron oxide or rust colors the planet’s soil, while Pluto’s coloration is likely caused by hydrocarbon molecules called tholins that are formed when cosmic rays and solar ultraviolet light interact with methane in Pluto’s atmosphere and on its surface. Airborne tholins fall out of the atmosphere and coat the surface with a reddish gunk.
![Scientists at Johns Hopkins University’s Hörst Laboratory have produced complex chemical compounds called tholins, which may give Pluto its reddish hue. Credits: Chao He, Xinting Yu, Sydney Riemer, and Sarah Hörst, Johns Hopkins University](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pluto-tholins-580x340.jpg)
Credits: Chao He, Xinting Yu, Sydney Riemer, and Sarah Hörst, Johns Hopkins University
A particular color or wavelength of UV light called Lyman-alpha is most effective at stimulating the chemical reactions that build hydrocarbons at Pluto. Recent measurements with New Horizons’ Alice instrument reveal the diffuse glow of Lyman-alpha light all around the dwarf planet coming from all directions of space, not just the Sun.
Since one of the main sources of Lyman-alpha light besides the Sun are regions of vigorous star formation in young galaxies, Pluto’s cosmetic rouge may originate in events happening millions of light years away.
![Triton's pink too! Montage of Neptune's largest moon, Triton (1,683 miles in diameter) and the planet Neptune showing the moon's sublimating south polar cap (bottom) and enigmatic "cantaloupe terrain". Credit: NASA](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Triton-and-Neptune-580x580.jpg)
“Pluto’s reddish color has been known for decades, but New Horizons is now allowing us to correlate the color of different places on the surface with their geology and soon, with their compositions,” said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.
Tholins have been found on other bodies in the outer Solar System, including Titan and Triton, the largest moons of Saturn and Neptune, respectively, and made in laboratory experiments that simulate the atmospheres of those bodies.
![True color photos showing the two hemispheres of Pluto. At right, you can clearly see the four streaks in a row. New Horizons will approach fly by the hemisphere on the left side.](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pluto-bars-two-hemispheres-580x247.jpg)
As you study the photos and animation, you’ll notice that Pluto’s largest dark spot is redder than the most of the surface; you also can’ help but wonder what’s going on with those four evenly-spaced dark streaks in the equatorial zone. When I first saw them, my reaction was “no way!” They look so neatly lined up I assumed it was an image artifact, but after seeing the rotating movie, maybe not. It’s more likely that low resolution enhances the appearance of alignment.
![Dark streaks on Triton formed by deposits from ice or cryovolcanos. Credit: NASA](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Triton-dark-streaks-580x521.jpg)
But what are they? Located as they are on the Charon-facing side of Pluto, they may be related to long-ago tidal stresses induced by each body on the other as they slowly settled into their current tidally-locked embrace or something as current as seasonal change.
Voyager 2 photographed cyrovolcanos at Triton during its 1989 flyby of the Neptune system. Nitrogen geysers and plumes of gas and ice as high as 5 miles (8 km) were seen erupting from active volcanoes, leaving dark streaks on its icy surface.
![Images showing the increase in detail from late June through July 1 as New Horizons homes in on Pluto. Credit:](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pluto-approach-to-July-1-580x422.png)
![It's instructive to compare these images based on observations with the Hubble Space Telescope made well before New Horizons's arrival. They appear to record the large dark spot and possible the multiple streaks. Credit: NASA/ESA](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pluto-Hubble-580x464.jpg)
Seasonal heating from the Sun is the most likely cause for Triton’s eruptions; Pluto’s dark streaks may have a similar origin.
![Animation of Pluto and Charon from images taken between June 23 and June 29. Credit:](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pluto-Charon-color-movie-580x580.gif)
![To give you a better picture in your head how big these small bodies are, Pluto and Charon would both fit within the United States with room to spare. Credit: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pluto-charon-size-scale-US-lasp-580x444.jpg)
Today, New Horizons lies just 7.4 million miles (11.9 million km) from its target. Sharpness and detail visible will rapidly improve in just a few days.
“Even at this resolution, Pluto looks like no other world in our Solar System,” said mission scientist Marc Buie of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder in a recent press release.
Indeed!