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If I remember, the aliens have a base way out on Pluto. They're up to no good. I believe our only hope is call Mother Thing . . . |
Posted on 01/23/2007 10:24:01 AM PST by Moseley
Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer posted: 09 October 2002 01:25 p.m. ET
In what is largely a reversal of an August announcement, astronomers today said Pluto is undergoing global warming in its thin atmosphere even as it moves farther from the Sun on its long, odd-shaped orbit.
Pluto's atmospheric pressure has tripled over the past 14 years, indicating a stark temperature rise, the researchers said. The change is likely a seasonal event, much as seasons on Earth change as the hemispheres alter their inclination to the Sun during the planet's annual orbit.
They suspect the average surface temperature increased about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit, or slightly less than 2 degrees Celsius.
Pluto remains a mysterious world whose secrets are no so easily explained, however. The warming could be fueled by some sort of eruptive activity on the small planet, one astronomer speculated.
The increasing temperatures are more likely explained by two simple facts: Pluto's highly elliptical orbit significantly changes the planet's distance from the Sun during its long "year," which lasts 248 Earth years; and unlike most of the planets, Pluto's axis is nearly in line with the orbital plane, tipped 122 degrees. Earth's axis is tilted 23.5 degrees.
Though Pluto was closest to the Sun in 1989, a warming trend 13 years later does not surprise David Tholen, a University of Hawaii astronomer involved in the discovery.
"It takes time for materials to warm up and cool off, which is why the hottest part of the day on Earth is usually around 2 or 3 p.m. rather than local noon," Tholen said. "This warming trend on Pluto could easily last for another 13 years."
Stellar observations
The conclusion is based on data gathered during a chance passage of Pluto in front of a distant star as seen from Earth. Such events, called occultations, are rare, but two of them occurred this summer.
In the occultations, which are like eclipses, astronomers examined starlight as it passed through Pluto's tenuous atmosphere just before the planet blotted out the light.
The first occultation, in July, yielded limited data because of terrestrial cloud cover above key telescopes. Marc Buie, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory, scrambled to observe the event from northern Chile using portable 14-inch (0.35-meter) telescope. Afterward, Buie said he was baffled by what seemed to be global cooling of Pluto's atmosphere punctuated by some surface warming.
Then on Aug. 20, Pluto passed in front of a different star. The latter event provided much better data captured by eight large telescopes and seems to clarify and mostly reverse the earlier findings.
The results were compared to studies from 1988, the last time Pluto was observed eclipsing a star.
James Elliot of MIT led a team of astronomers who coordinated their observations and presented the findings today at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Division for Planetary Sciences in Birmingham, Ala.
Elliot said the Aug. 20 occultation was the first that allowed such a deep probing of the composition, pressure and the always-frigid temperature of Pluto's atmosphere, which ranges from -391 to -274 degrees Fahrenheit (-235 to -170 degrees Celsius).
Volcanoes on Pluto?
Elliot hinted at the possibility of another factor fueling Pluto's warming trend.
He compared Pluto to Triton, a moon of Neptune. Both have atmospheres made mostly of nitrogen. In 1997, Triton occulted a star and astronomers found that its atmosphere had warmed since the last observations were made in 1989 during the Voyager mission. Back then, Voyager found dark material rising above Triton, indicating possible eruptive activity.
"There could be more massive activity on Pluto, since the changes observed in Pluto's atmosphere are much more severe," Elliot said. "The change observed on Triton was subtle. Pluto's changes are not subtle."
There is no firm evidence that Pluto is volcanically active, but neither is there evidence to rule out that possibility. Even the Hubble Space Telescope can barely make out Pluto's surface.
Elliot added that the process affecting Pluto's temperature is complex. "We just don't know what is causing these effects," he said.
Let's go there
Elliot and others believe this poor understanding of our solar system's tiniest planet is grounds for sending a robot to investigate. Pluto is the only planet not visited by a spacecraft.
NASA has shelved a mission that would explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of frozen objects in which it resides.
Congress, however, appears to view the mission as worthy of some funds. A House budget panel this week followed the lead of the Senate in approving $105 million for the mission. If final approval comes, NASA would be compelled to undertake the project.
Interestingly, while Pluto's atmosphere has been growing warmer in recent years, astronomers have argued that a Pluto mission must launch by 2006, lest it miss the opportunity to study Pluto's atmosphere before it completely freezes out for the winter.
Tentative mission plans call for a robotic probe that would not reach Pluto for several years, making a flyby sometime prior to 2020 prior to investigating other objects deeper in the solar system.
Meanwhile, astronomers are looking forward to a space telescope called SOFIA, slated to begin operations in 2004. SOFIA will carry an instrument designed specifically to observe occultations and is expected to be employed when Pluto passes in front of other stars in coming years.
The Pluto observations this summer were funded by NASA, the Research Corporation and the National Science Foundation. Observations were made using the telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Haleakala, Lick Observatory, Lowell Observatory and the Palomar Observatory.
Dang! Halliburton has been busy destroying the environment on Pluto? But Pluto isn't even a planet anymore so who cares!
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
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If I remember, the aliens have a base way out on Pluto. They're up to no good. I believe our only hope is call Mother Thing . . . |
Here's an inconvenient truth: The Plutonians are destroying their planet...
LOL! That is very cute.
But its still glad it isn't Uranus. (someone had to say it)
There's also the NASA News Release: Evidence for Recent Climate Change on Mars,
And this:
Puzzling.
Baffling.
Who could possbily figure out what this means?
a U.N. Tax?
that will be the day I go buy some weapons...
Read more carefully. Pluto is even farther from the sun now. If the sun were causing this, It would have to be much, much hotter.
Ever wonder why the sun's activity runs in cycles? Is the sun causing a solar system warming, or is the sun just a part of an entire system warming?
Don't forget, also, there was a story yesterday about the moon's impending disintegration (about 5 billion years from now). If global warming doesn't kill us, we'll suffocate from being buried alive under green cheese!
I kid you not: they have discovered that berylium isotopes correlate to various global climate conditions. They've found that higher concentrations of berylium isotopes correspond to higher global atmospheric temperatures. They've ascertained that berylium isotopes are created through interaction of the atmosphere with solar wind particles. They've found that higher periods of solar activity correspond to higher levels of berylium isotopes.
What's really really puzzling the scientists: they believe that there appears to be some sort of influence of the earth's climate by the sun. What this influence is is not entirely clear and more research needs to be done to pin this baffling issue down.
If you actually read the research paper that broke that revelation: you'd want to grab a stick and beat them over the head while screaming, "DOES UTTERING THE WORDS A HOTTER SUN HAS A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE IN WARMING UP THE EARTH'S GLOBAL CLIMATE CAUSE YOU THAT MUCH PAIN? WELL DOES IT???? DOES IT???? HOW DOES THIS FEEL???? FEEL BETTER NOW? WHAT ABOUT NOW? Seriously, I'd feel seriously better after beating them silly with an ugly stick. For sure, but that's just me.
AAAAArrrrrrggghhh!!!!! Where's my underground green cheese shelter?????
After 5 billion years, it won't be green anymore.
I would have said "decanonized". One way to define a planet is by roster, which is what the IAU did despite their squirrelly explanation. The roster is essentially canonical, not descriptive.
I thought it was Capitalism that caused global warming, not Middle East oil...
Pluto was decanonized? Did they find that Clyde Tombaugh faked the miracles to have it canonized in the first place?
So! The CO2 from cars and trucks is blowing out in space and landing on Pluto! There it's causing global warming!
The only solution is to send Al Gore to Pluto. He'll know how to stop Plutonian warming.
They found St. Christopher giving rides over to Charon, across the river Styx. St. Chistopher was recently decanonized, merely because there is no credible evidence that he ever existed. Picky.
I think your answer is too complicated for the common masses. Driving SUV's is a much simpler explanation. And WE can control that - which makes us feel good and gives us the semblance of some type of power.
I've always maintained that global warming is due to the sun. And I think the shift in Pluto's heat is probably just a heat lag. But - I wonder if there is anything else that can heat up the solar system at various times? As the whole solar system flies around the universe - are there "warm spots" in the pool?
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