【Why we choose this article】
Are there any habitable planets in the universe? From tracking the dynamics of a planet, scientists hope to find the next possible habitat for human beings in the universe. Let’s take a look at NASA’s latest discovery, the dynamics of Pluto’s surface, whether there is the possibility of living organisms! (Editor in charge: Chen Yijun)
Scientists say images of ice volcanoes captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that Pluto’s interior is much warmer than previously thought, raising questions about whether it is habitable. (Image source: Nature.com, the website of Nature Communications)
Scientists said today,Pluto has weird wave topography not observed in the solar system beforeshowing the dwarf planet’sThe gigantic ice volcano is still active relatively recently, and the subsurface ocean may still exist, raising the question of whether it is habitable.
Images of ice volcanoes captured by images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that, according to a new study published in Nature Communications,Pluto’s interior is much hotter than previously thought。
Study author Kelsi Singer, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said,Instead of spewing into the air, the lava from Pluto’s ice volcanoes spews out “a thicker, slustier mixture of ice and water that may even seep like a solid stream of glaciers.」。
An analysis in @NatureComms of images of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveals an area of the dwarf planet dominated by relatively recent ice volcano activity, which contains volcanoes up to 7 kilometers tall. https://t.co/8wBPmvqptk pic.twitter.com/voNYnEa8GE
— Nature Portfolio (@NaturePortfolio) March 29, 2022
Singh said:The icy material flowing from the crater to Pluto’s surface is more like a slushy mixture of ice and water, or more like toothpaste.The surface temperature of Pluto is so cold that liquid water cannot last for very long. In some cases, the outflowing material can form the large dome we see in the image and the undulating terrain that can be seen throughout the region. “
That alone is surprising.she said becauseThe average temperature of Pluto’s surface is -233 degrees Celsius，The fact that the ice-water material should not move at all shows that Pluto’s core is hotter than expected.
Several icy moons in the solar system are believed to have ice volcanoes, but the ice volcanoes on Pluto “are very different from what we’ve seen,” Singer told AFP.
“Pluto is the only place that has a large swath of very large ice volcanoes with a unique undulating topography,” Singer said.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how long ago the ice volcanoes formed, Singh said.“But we think it’s probably only 100 million years old, or even more recent.”
She added that unlike most places on Pluto, there are no impact craters in this area, which means“It cannot be ruled out that ice volcanoes are forming even today.”
Lynnae Quick, a planetary scientist specializing in ice volcanoes at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said:The findings are ‘significant’。
“Small bodies like Pluto should have lost most of their internal heat long ago, but these findings suggest that it retains enough energy to enable widespread geological activity at a relatively recent point in time,” Quick told AFP. .”
Quick said:“These findings lead us to reassess the possibility that icy worlds very far from the sun are sustaining liquid water.”
CNN reported that Pluto once had a subsurface ocean, and the discovery of these ice volcanoesIt can be deduced that the subsurface ocean still exists, and the liquid water may be very close to the surface.This, coupled with the fact that Pluto’s internal temperature is higher than previously thought, makes people wonder about Pluto’s habitability.
“There are still many challenges for any organism to survive on Pluto,” Singh said. “It will require some constant source of nutrients, and if volcanism is episodic, heat and water sources will be capricious. living organisms.”
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(This article is reprinted with the authorization of the Central News Agency, and agrees to CitiOrange to write the introduction and revise the title, the original title: “Pluto’s image captures a huge ice volcano, suggesting that there may be life”, the source of the first picture: Central News Agency)
