See The Newest 'Snakeskin' Image of Pluto From NASA

NASA has received new images of the surface of Pluto from New Horizons, which the organization says resembles “snakeskin.”

The snakeskin photo, taken at the dividing line between day and night, shows new levels of detail in the topography and composition of Pluto.

“It’s a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles,” said William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team deputy lead from Washington University in St. Louis in a NASA release on the images. “It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology. This’ll really take time to figure out.”

Scientists aren’t sure what causes the distinctive pattern. Speculative theories include the possibility of plate tectonics rippling the surface, or frozen gasses that sublime away when the distant sun raises surface temperature slightly. The gasses may then disperse into the thin Plutonian atmosphere and then freeze back down when the dwarf planet moves further from the sun in its elliptical orbit.

See New Horizons' Best Images of Pluto

An enhanced color global view of pluto released on July 24, 2015.

NASA/Reuters

In the center left of Pluto’s vast heart-shaped feature – informally named “Tombaugh Regio” - lies a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains and has been informally named Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), after Earth’s first artificial satellite. The image was acquired on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers).

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

A close-up image of a region near Pluto's equator shows a range of mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it passed within 7,800 feet of the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015.

NASA/Getty Images

A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto’s heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain.

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

A composite image of Pluto and its largest moon Charon collected separately by New Horizons during approach on July 13 and July 14, 2015. The relative reflectivity, size, separation, and orientations of Pluto and Charon are approximated in this composite image, and they are shown in approximate true color.

NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

Pluto, seen from the New Horizons spacecraft on July 13, 2015 just before the space craft's historic fly-by.

NASA/AP

NASA's New Horizons captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Charon just before closest approach on July 14, 2015.

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

A close up view of Pluto's largest moon, Charon.

NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

Pluto on July 14, 2015, as seen by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft while it looked back toward the sun.

NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.berenson@time.com.