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 ...
Alot left out due o posting limits. A good story.
ice volcanoes. There is probably a planet somewhere that rains molten tar. Remind not to leave earth.
“Molten ice”. That would be, ummm...water?
Prepare for them to find life out there. Extremely slow life given the sheer coldness (Lack of energy) involved. Think about our arrogance. We are unique. I don’t believe it. Or possibly we are.... hot world things dont survive.
Ahhhh hell I have a whole book plot in my head right now.....
I, for one, welcome our Plutonian overlords.
Pluto continues to wow me as more info is published.
And with only 20% of the data received, I look forward to being wowed for quite a while to come!
Reporter is a moron, or the scientists are. INTENTIONALITY on the planet Pluto???
Ummm, no... As it says in the first paragraph of the article:
"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."
So, by "ices," they mean frozen N2 and CH4 - not frozen H2O, which would remain rock-solid at temperatures at which nitrogen and methane would have long since transformed into liquids or even gasses.
Regards,
Reporter is a moron, or the scientists are. INTENTIONALITY on the planet Pluto???
My, you are a stickler! No, I don't believe that either the scientists or the reporter were morons, or wished to imply intentionality.
The alternative would have been wordier, and not necessarily more-understandable to typical readers:
It also suggests that the cryovolcanoes were a way possible explanation for Pluto's periodic rejuvenation of its to periodically rejuvenate surface supplies of these volatile ices, which sublimate into the thin atmosphere and are...
Regards,
NASA has shamed itself with lying agenda-driven “research” and “discoveries” for me to give any credence whatsoever to anything they say there.
Pluto is not a planet anymore, so I don’t care.
Life requires an energy source to power activity on the molecular level. The combining of amino acids and so forth. From what we can tell it also requires something liquid—water is of course ideal but there may be substitutes on the colder side, such as methane. Certainly our idea of what constitutes life may be narrow, but can we make it so broad that snow balls are also considered life? That seems to be the direction that some are headed.
Dwarf Ice Matters!
"frozen ice" is a pleonasm and "molten ice" is an oxymoron. How about, "ice" and "water"?
molten ice?
WTF?
Is that like “slush” or “water”?
Well, okay then.
“Molten ice”??? Here on Earth, we call that “water.”
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