Search for life now extends to outer reaches of solar system

The dramatic images of vast ice plains on Pluto beamed to Earth last week prove that it is regions on the edge of the solar system - long thought to be inert wastelands - that are the most exciting for scientists

For a world perched at the outer edge of the solar system, Pluto caused considerable excitement last week when it was revealed to be a place of unexpected dynamic activity. The New Horizons probe - after a 10-year voyage to reach the dwarf planet - was able to show that it contains great plains of ice that could have formed only 100 million years ago, a mere twinkling of a cosmic eye.