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Pluto’s Mysterious, Floating Hills
NASA ^
| 4 Feb, 2016
| NASA
Posted on 02/05/2016 7:38:13 PM PST by MtnClimber
The nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appear to carry an intriguing cargo: numerous, isolated hills that may be fragments of water ice from Pluto's surrounding uplands. These hills individually measure one to several miles or kilometers across, according to images and data from NASA's New Horizons mission.
The hills, which are in the vast ice plain informally named Sputnik Planum within Pluto's 'heart,' are likely miniature versions of the larger, jumbled mountains on Sputnik Planum's western border. They are yet another example of Pluto's fascinating and abundant geological activity.
Because water ice is less dense than nitrogen-dominated ice, scientists believe these water ice hills are floating in a sea of frozen nitrogen and move over time like icebergs in Earth's Arctic Ocean. The hills are likely fragments of the rugged uplands that have broken away and are being carried by the nitrogen glaciers into Sputnik Planum. 'Chains' of the drifting hills are formed along the flow paths of the glaciers. When the hills enter the cellular terrain of central Sputnik Planum, they become subject to the convective motions of the nitrogen ice, and are pushed to the edges of the cells, where the hills cluster in groups reaching up to 12 miles (20 kilometers) across.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; newhorizons; pluto; science; space
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To: MtnClimber
2
posted on
02/05/2016 7:38:48 PM PST
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
3
posted on
02/05/2016 7:47:54 PM PST
by
ETL
(Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
To: MtnClimber
4
posted on
02/05/2016 7:48:16 PM PST
by
BenLurkin
(The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
To: MtnClimber
I’ll bet it’s really cold there in order for that to happen.
5
posted on
02/05/2016 7:48:27 PM PST
by
SkyDancer
("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
To: MtnClimber
thanks for the post, MtnClimber.
6
posted on
02/05/2016 7:59:00 PM PST
by
txnativegop
(Tired of liberals, even a few in my own family.)
To: SkyDancer
Yes, cold. At its warmest, when it is closest to the sun, Pluto can reach temperatures of minus 369 degrees Fahrenheit. At its coolest, temperatures can fall to minus 387 degrees F.
7
posted on
02/05/2016 7:59:04 PM PST
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
You would definitely need a sweater.
To: MtnClimber; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy
Send Al Gore there and I’d bet he’d say it’s melting.
9
posted on
02/05/2016 8:10:17 PM PST
by
Impy
(They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
To: Impy
10
posted on
02/05/2016 8:15:32 PM PST
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
11
posted on
02/05/2016 8:29:14 PM PST
by
Delta 21
(Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
To: Larry Lucido
To: MtnClimber
There are some seriously cool pictures and articles on Pluto on that site.
13
posted on
02/05/2016 8:47:03 PM PST
by
mowowie
(`)
To: mowowie
Well, that's a sore point. Check out
Charles Astro . Who is this guy? He's not saying. Some kind of highly educated amateur, I'm guessing. Anyway, his wordpress blog is immensely superior in many ways to the offical NASA New Horizons site. He gives an elaborate and coherent explanation of the extant flyby photos. Perhaps he is mistaken in his interpretation, but he has no peers on the internet. The New Horizons NASA site is a complete mess. They are apparently keeping their cards close to the vest, and the various images and videos are in complete disarray, as they seem to be catering to a grade school mentality. I find the whole thing very distressing.
14
posted on
02/05/2016 11:18:12 PM PST
by
dr_lew
To: dr_lew
I should add: At the
Charles Astro link, you need to click on the "three bars" icon at the upper right to access the content. This gives you a menu of the several articales ... "A MODEL FOR PLUTO ..." , "PLUTO'S SUBTLE GLOBAL STRIPES ..." , etc.
15
posted on
02/05/2016 11:30:10 PM PST
by
dr_lew
To: MtnClimber
Pluto, the Smoothie Planet. ;-)
16
posted on
02/05/2016 11:34:37 PM PST
by
r_barton
(We the People of the United States...)
To: mowowie
You are right. Those were some cool pics.
17
posted on
02/05/2016 11:43:45 PM PST
by
Slyfox
(Ted Cruz does not need the presidency - the presidency needs Ted Cruz)
To: dr_lew
That particular mess is nothing compared to the Apollo mess, which is dwarfed by the Clementine mess ... NASA and the US Navy are agencies who have spent billions in space exploration are either hiding something huge or are totally incompetent. You pick.
18
posted on
02/06/2016 4:58:53 AM PST
by
PIF
(They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
To: SunkenCiv
19
posted on
02/06/2016 9:47:18 AM PST
by
houeto
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: MtnClimber
#7 so they have global warming there too!
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