Pluto's Largest Moon, Charon, Has Startling Details on Its Surface (IMAGE)

First Posted: Jul 17, 2015 09:43 AM EDT

Scientists have unveiled a new image of Pluto's largest moon, Charon, and the startling details on its surface. They've revealed a depression on the moon with a peak in the middle-essentially a mountain surrounded by a moat.

The new image shows an area that's about 240 miles from top to bottom, including few visible craters. This particular image actually gives researchers a preview of what the surface of this large moon will look like in future close-ups from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. This image is also heavily compressed, which means that researchers are looking forward to sharper versions when the full-fidelity data from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) are returned to Earth.

"The most intriguing feature is a large mountain sitting in a moat," said Jeff Moore with NASA's Ames Research Center, in a news release. "This is a feature that has geologists stunned and stumped."

In this image, the rectangle superimposed on the global view of Charon shows the approximate location of the close-up view.

Currently, New Horizons is hurtling through space toward the Kuiper Belt. These latest images, though, show that Charon has a complex and detailed surface. This, in turn, may tell scientists a bit more about the world as more data arrives on Earth from the spacecraft over the new several weeks.

For more information about New Horizons and its mission, visit NASA's website.