NASA Detects Evidence of Liquid Nitrogen Flowing on Pluto

The study, published July 31 in The Planetary Science Journal, re-examines the city-sized convection cells first captured by the New Horizons spacecraft. Researchers identified dark linear features separating these icy blocks that mirror terrestrial glacial patterns typically wetted by surface rain or rising fluids. Because Pluto’s atmospheric conditions preclude liquid nitrogen precipitation, the team concluded the moisture originates from beneath the frozen crust.

Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute, noted that these findings redefine the dwarf planet as a world of time-variable, active geology. Sputnik Planitia, a nitrogen glacier larger than Texas and Oklahoma combined, acts as the primary site for this phenomenon. By collaborating with terrestrial glaciologists, the research team established that these ephemeral, darkened surface markings signify a recurring process where liquid nitrogen breaches the surface, challenging previous assumptions about the geological dormancy of the outer solar system.