memecros.blogg.se - Nasa news about pluto

The photographs of Pluto’s surface show tectonic evidence of the crust stretching and breaking apart, indicating the slow freezing of a subsurface water ocean, which would cause the crust to expand, because ice is less dense than water. One of the new ideas that has emerged in recent months is that oceans of liquid water existed under the icy crusts of both Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. The left half is covered by mostly nitrogen snow the right side is more methane ice. The most striking feature that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft saw when it flew past Pluto last July was a heart-shaped region now named Tombaugh Regio after Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto. On Pluto, nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide also freeze solid. The story of Pluto is still largely a story of ice. Stern cited 40 scientific papers, hundreds of hours of teleconferences among the scientists, and 200 scientific talks. “It rivals Mars.”įor the most part, the first impressions have have held up. “It’s much more complex than people, ourselves as experts included, expected,” Dr. The scientists described signs of active tectonics, a thin but hazy atmosphere, and other perplexing features. It was not a bland snowball, but a world covered with strikingly complex icescapes, from plains to soaring mountains. Within days of the flyby, data from New Horizons unveiled Pluto’s diverse terrain and surroundings. Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator, of the months that have elapsed since the flyby. “It almost simultaneously seems like forever, and it seems like no time at all,” said S.

Scientists have been sifting through the information that has been sent back intermittently since the flyby on July 14, 2015. And the data has confirmed some ideas like how Pluto and its moons formed. What are asteroids and where do they come from?įind more answers to your questions in Sky & Telescope's Astronomy Q&As.In the year since NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, the dwarf planet has maintained its icy heart.īut closer analysis of the trove of data collected by the space probe reveals intriguing clues to other possible features – including whether Pluto has a sloshing underground ocean of liquid water.What is a comet, and where do they come from?.Why do the outer, gas-giant planets rotate faster than the inner, terrestrial planets?.

What are the smallest and largest planets in our solar system?.

Other Frequently Asked Questions About the Solar System: New Horizons flew by our favorite dwarf planet in July 2015 and scientists continue to uncover surprising details about this faraway world. With an atmosphere, stark surface features, and at least five moons, Pluto is the most complex dwarf planet we know, and one of the most surprising solar system planets. Other dwarf planets include Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Instead, it is classified as a dwarf planet. Pluto was demoted from its planetary status in 2006 when a body of scientists decided a formalized definition for the term “planet.”Īccording to the International Astronomical Union's definition, a planet is “a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” Because Pluto is part of the Kuiper Belt, and therefore has not met the third criterion, it is no longer considered a planet. However, it is now considered to be one of the largest known members of the Kuiper Belt - a collection of icy bodies on the outer fringes of the solar system. Pluto, a dwarf planet, was classified as one of the solar system planets when it was first discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. Our solar system is an orderly arrangement of planets orbiting the Sun.