This "super Grand Canyon" can be seen on the surface of Pluto's largest moon, Charon. (Photo : NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
A spectacular canyon system was observed in Pluto's binary moon, Charon which is twice longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
In this new image captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, a portion of the eastern region in this global view of Charon can be seem, which is captured some several hours before its closest approach last July 2015.
This deep canyon known as Argo Chasma can be seen tearing up this eastern limb which is measured, stretching at exactly 185 miles long. New Horizons mission scientists estimate that the entire length of Argo can reach to 430 miles long compared to the Grand Canyon at 280 miles.
During this fortunate viewing angle, the canyon can be observed beginning from its edge, where the northern end of this canyon reveals its actual depth. Images that were also captured at the same time frame by New Horizons are compared with each other to gauge the depth of Argo, which is estimated to reach 5.5 miles deep which is also more than five times the depth of Grand Canyon.
Along this alien canyon lies locations along its length that reveal cliffs that can reach several miles high, that can surpass the tallest cliff face on the solar system, the Verona Rupes on Uranus' moon, Miranda, which measures at least three miles high.
This newest image revealed by New Horizons was captured by its LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) possessing a resolution of 1.45 miles per pixel. New Horizons was also at a range of 289,000 miles above Charon's surface, at around nine hours and 22 minutes away from its closest approach of the dwarf planet last July 14, 2015.
