The deep canyon informally named Argo Chasma is approximately 430 miles long.
AB Wire
NASA’s New Horizon probe revealed that Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is home to an unusual canyon system that’s far longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon.
The deep canyon informally named Argo Chasma is approximately 430 miles (700 kilometres) long while Arizona’s Grnand Canyon is 280 miles (450 kilometres) long.
New Horizons scientists estimate Agro Chasma to be as deep as 5.5 miles (9 kilometres) , which is more than five times the depth of the Grand Canyon.
The image was obtained by New Horizon’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at a resolution of approximately 1.45 miles (2.33 kilometres) per pixel. It was taken at a range of approximately 289,000 miles (466,00 kilometres) from Charon, 9 hours and 22 minutes before New Horizons’ closest approach to Charon on July 14,2015.
Charon, the largest of five know moons of Pluto, was discovered in 1978 and New Horizons spacecraft is the only probe to date visited the system.
Recent Images from NASA’s New Horizons mission had revealed that Charon was once had s sub-surface ocean that has long since frozen and expanded- pushing outward and causing the moon’s surface to stretch and fracture on a massive scale.
Charon is characterised by a system of “pull apart” tectonic faults, which are expressed as ridges, scarps and valleys- and latter sometimes reaching more than 6km deep.