For decades, Pluto was thought to be a cold, lifeless world at the edge of our solar system. But close-up observations changed everything. Near Pluto’s equator, towering mountains made of water-ice rise as high as 11,000 feet — and they are surprisingly young. Captured by New Horizons, this region shows almost no impact craters, suggesting recent geological activity on a world once believed to be inactive. At Pluto’s extreme temperatures, water-ice behaves like solid rock, forming massive peaks