Particle.news
Get it on Google Play
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
11h ago

Study Finds Liquid Nitrogen Recently Reached Pluto’s Surface

Image comparisons and numerical models show basal melting can drive liquid nitrogen up through narrow conduits to Sputnik Planitia’s surface, suggesting active geology on Pluto.

Pluto’s northern Sputnik Planitia glacier (in the western or left side of Pluto’s brightheart) is shown here in a color mosaic made from NASA’s New Horizons imagery. The direction of north is shown on the image. The image is ~ 700 x 350 kilometers across. The red box has been added to show most of the region containing dark features attributed to the wetting of the glacier by liquid nitrogen sourced from a “basal melting” process beneath the glacier. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SwRI
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SwRI
Image

Overview

  • The peer-reviewed study led by Southwest Research Institute and Alan Stern, published this week, reanalyzed 2015 New Horizons images and identified dark, time-variable streaks at the northern edge of Sputnik Planitia that resemble wetted glacial patterns on Earth.
  • Computer models by the paper’s modeling team show that nitrogen ice at the base of Sputnik Planitia can melt under pressure and buoyancy and travel upward through narrow conduits, allowing liquid nitrogen to reach and briefly wet the surface.
  • Authors argue Pluto’s thin, cold atmosphere rules out liquid nitrogen precipitation, so the most plausible explanation for the dark patches is subsurface emergence from basal melting rather than rain.
  • The study notes major uncertainties because more than half of Pluto lacks high-resolution mapping and laboratory data on how solid nitrogen behaves under stress at cryogenic temperatures, and it calls for lab experiments and new high-resolution observations.
  • If confirmed, the finding bolsters evidence that Pluto is geologically active, may help explain similar features seen on other icy worlds such as Triton, and strengthens the case for future missions and experiments to study Kuiper Belt geology.