Space
Haze and Flowing Ice Can be Found on Pluto, New Horizons Image Reveals
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jul 27, 2015 11:26 AM EDT
As New Horizons speeds away from Pluto, researchers on Earth are learning more and more about the tiny planet. Now, scientists have discovered that the distant dwarf planet has both flowing ice and a surprising extended haze.
"We knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, and now-10 days after closest approach-we can say that our expectation has been more than surpassed," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, in a news release. "With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling."
The researchers detected hazes in the image that was taken of the tiny planet by New Horizons. In fact, it's the hazes that help give Pluto's surface its reddish hue. They're important for creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that create the red color.
Models suggest the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up methane gas particles-a simple hydrocarbon in Pluto's atmosphere. The breakdown of methane triggers the buildup of more complex hydrocarbon gases, such as ethylene and acetylene, which also were discovered n Pluto's atmosphere by New Horizons. As these hydrocarbons fall to the lower, colder parts of the atmosphere, they condense into ice particles that create the hazes. Ultraviolet sunlight chemically converts hazes into tholins, the dark hydrocarbons that color Pluto's surface.
Scientists previously calculated that temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at altitudes higher than 20 miles above Pluto's surface. The latest images, though, show otherwise.
The scientists also spotted evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto's surface and revealing signs of recent geologic activity, which is something that the researchers didn't expect to find.
"At Pluto's temperatures of minus-390 degrees Fahrenheit, these ices can flow like a glacier," said Bill McKinnon, deputy leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team. "In the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain has been invaded by much newer icy deposits."
Want to learn more about the mission? Check out NASA's website.
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First Posted: Jul 27, 2015 11:26 AM EDT
As New Horizons speeds away from Pluto, researchers on Earth are learning more and more about the tiny planet. Now, scientists have discovered that the distant dwarf planet has both flowing ice and a surprising extended haze.
"We knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, and now-10 days after closest approach-we can say that our expectation has been more than surpassed," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, in a news release. "With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling."
The researchers detected hazes in the image that was taken of the tiny planet by New Horizons. In fact, it's the hazes that help give Pluto's surface its reddish hue. They're important for creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that create the red color.
Models suggest the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up methane gas particles-a simple hydrocarbon in Pluto's atmosphere. The breakdown of methane triggers the buildup of more complex hydrocarbon gases, such as ethylene and acetylene, which also were discovered n Pluto's atmosphere by New Horizons. As these hydrocarbons fall to the lower, colder parts of the atmosphere, they condense into ice particles that create the hazes. Ultraviolet sunlight chemically converts hazes into tholins, the dark hydrocarbons that color Pluto's surface.
Scientists previously calculated that temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at altitudes higher than 20 miles above Pluto's surface. The latest images, though, show otherwise.
The scientists also spotted evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto's surface and revealing signs of recent geologic activity, which is something that the researchers didn't expect to find.
"At Pluto's temperatures of minus-390 degrees Fahrenheit, these ices can flow like a glacier," said Bill McKinnon, deputy leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team. "In the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain has been invaded by much newer icy deposits."
Want to learn more about the mission? Check out NASA's website.
Related Stories
Second Mountain Range Erupts from the Heart of Pluto, New Image Reveals
NASA New Horizons Captures Nix and Hydra Moons in Spectacular New Image
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone