An article published in the journal “Nature” offers an explanation for the existence of Sputnik Planum, the heart-shaped basin on Pluto. Tanguy Bertrand and François Forget, two researchers at the Laboratoire de dynamique météorologie (CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/ UPMC/ENS Paris) used computer simulations to show that the peculiar Pluto’s atmosphere and insolation favors condensation near the equator in the lower altitude areas. The result is nitrogen ice accumulation in that basin.