The coexistence of air and solidity, the churning ice fields, the magical activity on Pluto
Strange polygons on Pluto now have scientific explanations
Icing also occurs on other planets.
(Illustration: A composite map of Pluto created using data from NASA's New Horizons mission.) Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)
Pluto is geologically a living planet.
A new study points to the bizarre geometry first discovered on the dwarf planet in 2015 as a sign that sublimation activity is underway.
The new model suggests that the Pluto polygonal nitrogen ice discovered by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during a near-object exploration flight was formed by direct condensation of water vapor without experiencing a liquid state.
(Illustration: "Heart of Pluto" huge ice field Source: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
Lead author Adrien Morison, a researcher at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said his team was the first to explain the origin of polygons on Pluto's surface based on modeling.
"Despite being very far from the Sun and with only a very limited amount of internal energy, Pluto is still geologically active," Morrison said in a university speech, "And the planet's surface state allows nitrogen in the atmosphere to coexist with solid nitrogen, including in the Sputnik Planitia." ”
(Photo taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during a Pluto near-object exploration flight on July 14, 2015, shows that the surface of Pluto's frozen Sputnik Plain is covered with churning "ice cells" that are constantly tumbling under the influence of convection and are very young.) Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)
Spanning the equator, the Sputnik Plain is a large oval in shape, constituting the most significant geological feature on Pluto. In 2016, the plain was commonly known as sputnik Planum (formerly the plain's informal name, meaning "Sputnik Plateau"), and projections at the time suggested that the area was 347,500 square miles (i.e., 900,000 square kilometers) and at least about 1.2 to 1.8 miles (i.e., 2 to 3 kilometers) deep.
(Illustration: Global Color Map of Pluto Source: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
The new study conducted numerical simulations showing that the nitrogen on Pluto cooled down under the sublimation of the Sputnik Plain to form polygons consistent with the size and undulating terrain shown in the New Horizons photo. The new model shows that sublimation activity in the Sputnik Plain began between 1 million and 2 million years ago, in line with the results of larger global climate models.
(Illustration: Sputnik Plains Western Region Source: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
The team notes that sublimation activity can also occur in other frozen objects in the solar system, including Triton (a large moon of Neptune) and the more distant Kuiper Belt objects Eris and Makemake in the solar system. We may need to rely on spacecraft to do more observations of the surface of these celestial bodies. To date, no scheduled mission has been made to explore these planets.
(Illustration: Pluto in New Horizons Source: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)
Pluto is the largest and second most massive dwarf planet known in the Solar System and the first to be discovered in the Kuiper Belt. It orbits the Sun in an orbit more off-perfectly circular than Mercury's, and its volume is about one-third the size of the Moon.
Pluto's astronomical symbol is, also used in astrology. It is named after the god hades in Roman mythology. Both the new Pluto-like and Pluto-like planets are called dwarf planets.
(Illustration: Artistic Creation: Pluto and its Moons from the Moon of Pluto Source: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI))
After Pluto was released on February 18, 1930, Pluto was identified as the ninth largest planet in the outermost layer of the solar system until August 24, 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the solar system planet. More and more Pluto-like stars (i.e., similarly sized objects in the Kuiper Belt) have been discovered, and more precise definitions have emerged. Since then, Pluto has been classified as a dwarf planet, named Asteroid 134340, also known as Pluto.
In January 2006, New Horizons sent its first space probe to Pluto, which flew 12,500 kilometers from Pluto on July 14, 2015.
(Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Laboratory of Applied Physics/Southwest Research Institute)
BY: Elizabeth Howell
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