A detailed view of Tombaugh Regio; a constructed mosaic of monochrome images by New Horizons.
Feature type
Region
Location
Anti-Charon hemisphere of Pluto
Diameter
1,590 km (990 mi)[1]
Discoverer
New Horizons
Eponym
Clyde Tombaugh
Tombaugh Regio (/ˈtɒmbaʊˈrɛdʒioʊ/), sometimes nicknamed "Pluto's heart" after its shape,[2] is the largest bright surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto.[3][4][5] It lies just north of Pluto's equator, to the northeast of Belton Regio and to the northwest of Safronov Regio, which are both dark features.[6] Its western lobe, a 1,000 km (620 mi)-wide plain of nitrogen and other ices lying within a basin, is named Sputnik Planitia.[7][8] The eastern lobe consists of high-albedo uplands thought to be coated by nitrogen transported through the atmosphere from Sputnik Planitia, and then deposited as ice. Some of this nitrogen ice then returns to Sputnik Planitia via glacial flow. The region is named after Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto.
^Cite error: The named reference whale was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^New Horizons spacecraft displays Pluto's big heart Archived 16 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. NASA.gov. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
^O'Kane, Sean (15 July 2015). "This is the first high resolution image of Pluto's surface". The Verge. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
^Coldewey, Devin (15 July 2015). "Latest New Horizons Photo Shows Close-Up of Pluto's Young Mountains". NBC News. Comcast. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
^The New York Times (15 July 2015). "New Horizons Reveals Ice Mountains on Pluto". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
^McKinnon, Mika (14 July 2015). "Places on Pluto are Being Named for Your Darkest Imaginings". Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
^"New Horizons Discovers Flowing Ices on Pluto". NASA. 24 July 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
^Lakdawalla, Emily (21 December 2015). "Pluto updates from AGU and DPS: Pretty pictures from a confusing world". The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
TombaughRegio (/ˈtɒmbaʊ ˈrɛdʒioʊ/), sometimes nicknamed "Pluto's heart" after its shape, is the largest bright surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto...
Travel, Ace paperback, p. 113 List of astronomers Tombaugh (crater) Tombaugh Cliffs TombaughRegioTombaugh, Clyde; Patrick Moore (1980). Out of the Darkness:...
miles deep. From west (south of TombaughRegio) to east (west of the Whale's tail), the Knuckles are: Safronov Regio, after Russian astronomer Viktor...
Alpha Regio Asteria Regio Beta Regio Ovda Regio A regio of Pluto: Belton Regio Lowell RegioTombaughRegio A regio of Titan: Tui Regio A regio of Ganymede:...
southwest border area of Sputnik Planitia in the south of TombaughRegio (or the part of TombaughRegio south of the equator). The Hillary Montes were first...
geographical features include TombaughRegio, or the "Heart" (a large bright area on the side opposite Charon), Belton Regio, or the "Whale" (a large dark...
satellite, Sputnik 1, it constitutes the western lobe of the heart-shaped TombaughRegio. Sputnik Planitia lies mostly in the northern hemisphere, but extends...
Michael J. Belton. The macula lies west of the Sputnik Planitia region of TombaughRegio, also known as Pluto's "heart", and to the east of Meng-P'o, the easternmost...
Pluto. It is located near the western border of Sputnik Planitia in TombaughRegio. These mountains were first viewed by the New Horizons spacecraft. It...
east and south of the plain, forming the large bright eastern lobe of TombaughRegio. Glaciers appear to be flowing back into the planitia through valleys...
Coleman Mons, in her honor. It is located on the edge of the heart-shaped TombaughRegio. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Coleman earning her flying...
Planitia within Hyecho Palus, adjacent to the Tenzing Montes and Belton Regio. A relatively young geological feature, Wright Mons has attracted attention...
Terra is a region on the dwarf planet Pluto, north of Viking Terra and TombaughRegio and west of Pioneer Terra, which was discovered in July 2015 by the...
feature TombaughRegio, was informally named "Krun Macula" by NASA scientists. However, Krun Macula was later superseded by the name Safronov Regio in 2023...
for these features differ according to size. One feature classification, regio, was originally used on early maps of the Moon and Mercury (drawn from telescopic...
Horizons team. Names that have been officially approved are labeled as such. A regio is a region geographically distinct from its surroundings. Plutonian regiones...
Geological discoveries like the active features of Pluto's TombaughRegio appear to contradict the argument that geologically active worlds like Earth...
Pluto's TombaughRegio (photographed by New Horizons flyby on July 14, 2015) appears to exhibit geomorphological features previously thought to be unique...
kilometres (2.8 mi) Ahuna Mons 235 K Pluto 3.4 km (2.1 mi) Norgay Montes, TombaughRegio 45 K 35 K Eris 41 K 30 K Makemake Haumea The bodies included in this...
somewhat speculative. CH4 is widely distributed outside the TombaughRegio and Belton Regio, possibly at latitudinal bands of the northern boundary of...
who established the observatory where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. Beal, Tom (August 12, 2015). "Tombaugh, Lowell honored". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved...
name Tenzing Montes was officially approved together with the names of TombaughRegio and twelve other nearby surface features. Several massifs within Tenzing...
approach, LORRI views the other side of Pluto Mountain range on Pluto near TombaughRegio What is thought to be a frozen pond on Pluto, about 20 miles (30 kilometers)...
the provisional name "Farinella" to a crater on Pluto, north of the TombaughRegio. Asteroid 3248 Farinella is named after him. Farinella, Paolo; Gonczi...
without realizing at the time that it was not a star. In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location...
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