Latest Pluto photos from New Horizons give close-up view of icy mountains

New close-up images of a region near Pluto's equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body (Mount Everest, by comparison, measures about 29,000 feet).

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago—mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system—and may still be in the process of building, says Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics, and Imaging team. That suggests the close-up region, which covers less than one percent of Pluto's surface, may still be geologically active today.

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