Could Pluto’s ‘Icy Heart’ Explain Its Tilt, Geology and Behavior? Know About It Here

Pluto's 'icy heart', a nick name for the dwarf planet's Sputnik Planitia (formerly known as Sputnik Planum) region, influences the behavior of the dwarf planet and could also explain its tilt, planetary scientists have suggested recently. The new observations about the icy dwarf were reportedly put forward at a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences that took place in California's Pasadena area.

The heart shaped Sputnik Plantia, a massive area that spans 1,000 kilometers across and is also several kilometers deep is made up of nitrogen ice that churns and flows in huge glaciers. NASA's New Horizons spotted the area while it was flying by the dwarf planet in July 2015. The sheer sized icy heart controls quite a lot of Pluto's activity, from its hazy atmosphere to its frosty surface, as per scientists, and so much so that planetary scientist William McKinnon has stated, "All roads lead to Sputnik."

At the meeting, researchers revealed that Sputnik Planitia could have altered the tilt of Pluto. According to prevalent belief the icy heart of Pluto is a crater, created by the impact of a giant meteorite, which filled with ice. Consequently, the huge mass of ice caused Pluto to rotate relative to its spin axis, which in turn made the icy dwarf permanently face away from Charon, its biggest moon.

Additionally, the enormous reservoir of Sputnik Planitia's ice also feeds the complicated atmosphere of Pluto. Volatile chemicals such as carbon monoxide, methane and nitrogen begin as surface ices within Sputnik and sublimate into the air when the temperatures rise up. The volatile gases condense and fall back to the surface when the air cools, consequently coating the surface with a fresh frost layer.

The influence of the Sputnik Planitia reaches the highest levels of the 'former' ninth planet's atmosphere. The volatile gases of the region move upwards and new nitrogen and carbon compounds are created by photochemical reactions, which lead to the further formation of layered hazes extending more than 200 kilometers above the surface. Subsequently, the haze particles begin to join together and grow in size due to which they fall back and settle on Pluto's surface, coating it afresh until the cycle begins again.