| Feature type | Hills |
|---|---|
| Location | Eastern Sputnik Planitia, Pluto |
| Coordinates | 23°03′N 195°06′E / 23.050°N 195.100°E / 23.050; 195.1001 |
| Dimensions | 30 km × 60 km2 |
| Discoverer | New Horizons |
| Naming | Space Shuttle Challenger |
Challenger Colles is a range of hills on Pluto near the eastern edge of Sputnik Planitia.2 Discovered by the New Horizons team in July 2015,3 it is named in honor of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed with all seven crew lost on January 28, 1986. The name Challenger Colles was officially approved by the International Astronomical Union on May 27, 2022.1
Challenger Colles forms a roughly rectangular mass of blocks and mounts, each 1-5 km in diameter and up to several hundred meters high.2 It is part of a broader belt of scattered hills across Sputnik Planitia's eastern regions which may be fragments of water ice "bedrock" which were eroded from the neighboring bright highlands. Glacial action could then transport these blocks into Sputnik Planitia, as solid nitrogen is denser than water ice;4 Challenger Colles itself lies near a glacial "mouth", though it does not appear to have vigorous glacial flow at present.2
References
References
- "Challenger Colles". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program. (Center Latitude: 23.05°, Center Longitude: 195.10°)
- Howard, Alan D.; Moore, Jeffrey M.; Umurhan, Orkan M.; et al. (May 2017). "Present and past glaciation on Pluto". Icarus. 287: 287-300. Bibcode:2017Icar..287..287H. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2016.07.006.
- Talbert, Tricia (4 February 2016). "Pluto's Mysterious, Floating Hills". nasa.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- White, Oliver L.; Moore, Jeffrey M.; McKinnon, William B.; et al. (May 2017). "Geological mapping of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto". Icarus. 287: 261-286. Bibcode:2017Icar..287..261W. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.01.011.