NASA may have found snow-covered mountains on Pluto

From visual images and a spectral analysis, scientists think methane ice caps some of Pluto's mountains.

After studying images and data that characterize a range of mountains that run for 420km across Pluto's Cthulhu feature, planetary scientists now think they are seeing peaks capped with methane snow.

Pluto's Cthulhu region, about the size of Alaska, is characterized by reddish hues in contrast to the more pale, heart-shaped feature known as Sputnik Planum. Cthuhlu likely gets this darker color from tholins, complex organic molecules that form when ultraviolet light strikes simple organic molecules like methane. Tholins have been found on several worlds in the outer solar system, including Titan.

However, higher resolution images of mountains within the Cthulhu region have shown that the upper slopes on the highest peaks are much brighter. The most obvious explanation for this is a methane snow that has condensed out of Pluto's thin atmosphere, scientists say.