Pluto's Far Side

The New Horizons spacecraft provided near-global observations of Pluto that far exceed the resolution of Earth-based datasets. However, most previous Pluto New Horizons analyses focused on the New Horizons encounter hemisphere (i.e., the anti-Charon hemisphere containing Sputnik Planitia). In this work, we summarize and interpret data on Pluto's “far side” (i.e., its non-encounter or alternatively, its sub-Charon hemisphere), providing the first integrated New Horizons overview of Pluto's far side terrains. We find strong evidence for widespread bladed (i.e., aligned CH4-mountain) deposits, evidence for an impact crater about as large as any on the “near side” hemisphere, evidence for complex lineations approximately antipodal to Sputnik Planitia that may be causally related, evidence that the far side maculae (i.e., equatorial dark regions) are smaller and more structured than Pluto's encounter hemisphere maculae, and more.