Scientists have just discovered something unexpected on Pluto’s surface — absolutely no craters in one spot

A big surprise was awaiting scientists from NASA when they examined the western upper “lobe” of Pluto’s “heart” — a totally smooth surface that can only mean one thing: some geological action they weren’t expecting.

Scientists think that this area of Pluto is only 10 million years old, a mere blink of an eye in the 4.5 billion years our solar system has been around, according to a Christian Science Monitor report.

That’s a pretty surprising finding, because it would mean some geological processes are at work, something that scientists didn’t think was possible on a tiny, old rock like Pluto which had seemingly long since lost any sort of warmth in its core.

But there’s no mistaking it: a large portion of the surface in the left side of Pluto’s “heart” is entirely devoid of craters — as in, not even one. The Sputnik Planum, as it is called, must be the result of some geological process that is resulting in a smooth surface. This would indicate that, against all odds, Pluto does indeed have some source of heat.

Molten cores are found on planets all the time, such as our own Earth, which results in a geologically active surface and a magnetic field. But the smaller a cosmic body is, the less able it is to maintain that core. Our moon has a little bit of a core but not enough for it to be geologically active, and Pluto is even smaller than our moon. This finding could change the way scientists think of dwarf planets and how they are formed.

It’s the latest in a string of exciting findings by NASA’s New Horizons, which continues to make new discoveries as it beams back data from its flyby of Pluto a few months back. More discoveries could be on the way as we get more data.