Oz Terra is the unofficial name given to a major geological region on

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and ...

. The Pluto-facing hemisphere of Charon is divided onto two primary regions; Oz Terra in the north and Vulcan Planitia in the south. These regions are separated by a series of scarps near Charon's equator, particularly

Serenity Chasma Serenity Chasma is the unofficial name given to a large pull-apart fault on Pluto's moon, Charon. It is part of a series of faults that run along the perimeter of Vulcan Planitia. It was discovered by the ''New Horizons'' mission, and informal ...

and Mandjet Chasma. The region was discovered by ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

'' during its flyby of Pluto in July 2015. The name is derived from the

Land of Oz The Land of Oz is a fantasy world introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Countr ...

, the fantasy land created by

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

for his 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. The name was also favored for the entire moon by its discoverer,

James W. Christy James Walter "Jim" Christy (born September 15, 1938) is an American astronomer known for discovering Charon, the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. Early years Christy was born in 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the University of ...

Geology

Oz Terra sits about a kilometer higher than Vulcan Planitia, and is typified by large crustal blocks, having fractured early in Charon's history. The region was formed about 4 billion years ago, when a subsurface ocean of water and ammonia flowed to the surface, and then solidified.

References

New Horizons Surface features of Charon {{Crater-stub

Geology

See also

References