Pluto's largest moon, Charon, has shown resemblances to Earth's tectonic plates as it expands to the surface. Charon however, has only cracks and fissures on it resulted from movement of the plates. But mountainous structures that tectonic plates have created on Earth are negative.

Because the Earth is a sphere, the rocks tend to collide and move apart from each other. Charon, on the other hand, produces only extensions as only the pieces of the crust moves away from each other.

Since researchers believed that Charon is formed by a liquid mantle and a crust of purely water ice, as the water freezes, frozen ice expands. In contrast to Earth's rocky crust, Scientific American reports how rocks shrink when melted while ice stretch and crack to accommodate its expansion. Judging from the data from New Horizon, Charon may have some rocky crust given its mean density but its composition is insignificant to the total mass.

Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist, was able to study Charon when New Horizon passes Pluto and Charon in July 2015. At that time also, NASA's New Horizon spacecraft was able to capture 100 different images of Pluto and Charon where a video was made entitled "Colorful Landing".

Based on reports from USA Today, New Horizon used low-resolution color in Ralph color camera. It was in turn overlaid with black and white photos to produce the 'Pluto-landing effect'.

The video which already earned 500,000 views on YouTube describes how one will land on the planet's shoreline called Sputnik Planitia while viewing Pluto in distance with Charon always alongside. Charon, which Beyer believed to be from a collision of proto-Pluto, stays only on one side as it orbits with Pluto. Take note that its mantle has been continuously freezing, which explains the ridges and cracks on Charon's surface.