Pluto Has A Mysterious ‘Bite Mark', Scientists Discover New Theories

Scientists recently discovered a recent change on Pluto's surface that appears like a "bite mark." The image was retrieved from the New Horizons spacecraft, just 45 minutes from the closest it has ever been since July 14, 2015.

Pluto, known as an icy planet, was discovered to have a chunk of its ice missing. The upper layers of one of the planet's plains, called Piri Planitia, did not have the methane ice it usually does. The drench stretches about 600 kilometers.

It was suggested that this had happened from a process called sublimation. This process happens when their is a transition from a solid to a gas. The chuck of ice that is undergoing this process is now exposing a layer of water-ice. Sublimation is not just causing the ice to be transmitted into gas, but also retreating it south away from Piri Planitia.

Scientists are also researching to see if this is the same process that is the cause of Pluto's seemingly young surface. Discovery calls it, "a rejuvenating facial scrub."