"The Violent Origins of Pluto's Mysterious Heart Revealed by Astrophysicists"

A new study suggests that the heart-shaped formation on Pluto's surface, known as Tombaugh Regio, was likely formed in a slow-motion, glancing collision with an icy rock wider than Kansas is long. Using computer simulations, researchers determined that the impact likely originated from an oblique collision, leading to its elongated shape, and did not result in the melting of Pluto's icy core. The study also suggests that Pluto's heart does not require a subsurface ocean to explain its position near the equator.