Posted on 03/18/2016 11:32:38 PM PDT by MtnClimber
NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND—Researchers on NASA’s New Horizons mission have discovered evidence on Pluto for what appears to be two cryovolcanoes—volcanoes built out of frozen ice that once oozed molten ice from the inside of the dwarf planet. The discovery points to an internal heat source that, at some point in Pluto’s past, drove the melting of interior reservoirs of volatile ices, such as nitrogen and methane, that then erupted at the surface. It also suggests that the cryovolcanoes were a way for Pluto to periodically rejuvenate surface supplies of these volatile ices, which sublimate into the thin atmosphere and are eventually lost to space.
The features would be the first large ice volcanoes in the solar system, says Jeff Moore, a New Horizons scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, though the team is not yet willing to say the discovery is definite. “These sure look very suspicious and we’re looking at them closely.” The results were announced here today in a series of talks and an accompanying press conference at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
The two features, provisionally named Wright Mons and Piccard Mons, are mounds of ice with rims that tower as high as 5 or 6 kilometers above the surface. They are located just outside the southern tip of Sputnik Planum, the smooth, bright “heart” of Pluto. The rims, more than 150 kilometers across, encircle pits that are nearly as deep as the mountains are tall. The shape was unmistakably volcanolike, says Oliver White, a New Horizons scientist also at Ames Research Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
...volcanoes built out of frozen ice that once oozed molten ice from the inside of the dwarf planet... points to an internal heat source that, at some point in Pluto’s past, drove the melting of interior reservoirs of volatile ices, such as nitrogen and methane, that then erupted at the surface... The features would be the first large ice volcanoes in the solar system...Besides the Catastrophism ping list members, I'm going to ping the APoD members with this msg, looks like a topic you'd want to read as well.
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Thanks MtnClimber.
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“molten ice”
REALLY? How poorly educated is this journalist?
Otherwise known as water.
For an object that lost its title, it sure is an interesting place.
Superman’s Fortress of Solitude?
Superman’s Fortress of Solitude?
Superman’s Fortress of Solitude?
This cold atmosphere made me hit post 3 times.
FAR wordier.
How about “The volcanoes may be the source of blah blah blah on the surface of the planet.”
Sorry, but phraseology that suggests intentionality on a dead planet is just plain incompetent, and stupid.
Deep fried ice cream.
Definitely! BTW, it remains a planet to me.
Then it should get taxed like a planet, too! No more “dwarf planet” discounts for Pluto!
We also have to be careful, avoiding creating a dwarf shortage.
;’)
worked like a charm..
Molten ice?.....................Isn't that called WATER?......................
Seems like folks are getting hung up on “molten ice”, but it might be the best term. We typically think of matter in the state with which we associate it, water as a liquid or methane as a gas. But on other worlds those standards aren’t true, and the terms used to describe (or modify) them reflect their native state on that world. Unless there are better or more specific terms, “molten ice” might be as good as it gets.
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