NASA reported new findings from the New Horizons mission indicating a fair amount of water exists on Pluto's surface. The water-ice bedrock on the dwarf planet had already been known, but surface water is something else.
NASA noted:
The new map shows exposed water ice to be considerably more widespread across Pluto's surface than was previously known — an important discovery. But despite its much greater sensitivity, the map still shows little or no water ice in the informally named places called Sputnik Planum (the left or western region of Pluto’s “heart”) and Lowell Regio (far north on the encounter hemisphere). This indicates that at least in these regions, Pluto's icy bedrock is well hidden beneath a thick blanket of other ices such as methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide.
I am glad Pluto is back in the news since we have something concrete (or ice-solid) to study on an observed planet, dwarf or otherwise, rather than a speculative planet.
