New findings if true could also suggest life form on the planet.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The discussions surrounding Pluto and its existence in the solar system has taken a new turn with scientists suspecting the dwarf planet to be holding an ocean of liquid water under its icy surface.
The speculations regarding a possible underground ocean started to come up from scientific community after NASA’s ambitious New Horizons spacecraft analyzed the surface of the dwarf planet last July. But, scientists were of the belief that the ocean underneath the distant Kuiper belt object is solid.
Contrary to common belief, a detailed analysis of the thermal evolution model conducted by Noah Hammond a Ph.D. scholar at the Brown University, explains the cooling history of Pluto.
Hammond and his colleagues Amy Barr of Planetary Science in Arizona and Marc Parmentier of Brown updated the computer-based thermal model of Pluto with the new data collected from New Horizons.
According to the researchers, if going by the popular scientific explanation that Pluto’s ocean was frozen solid million or billions of years ago, the dwarf planet should have contracted slightly but they couldn’t find any signs of such a phenomenon, thus ruling out the possibility of a frozen ocean.
In the meanwhile, the data collected by New Horizons is pointing toward the planet expanding. According to a statement from Planetary Science Institute, this could be the result of a possible underground ocean in Pluto.
The new finding is a proof of the presence of oceanic environment in the farthest reaches of our solar system.
Hammond was quoted saying “That’s amazing to me. The possibility that you could have vast liquid water ocean habitats so far from the sun as Pluto — and that the same could also be possible on other Kuiper belt objects as well — is absolutely incredible.”
Most of the new findings regarding Pluto wouldn’t have been possible without the data transmitted by the New Horizons spacecraft. The vehicle had earlier helped scientists to find the high concentration of nitrogen and methane ices in the dwarf planet.
A statement from Brown described some of the other amazing features seen by New Horizons: “It has mountains hundreds of meters high and a vast heart-shaped plain. It also has giant tectonic features – sinuous faults hundreds of kilometers long as deep as 4 kilometers [2.5 miles]. It was those tectonic features that got scientists thinking that a subsurface ocean was a real possibility for Pluto.”
The research scholars are suggesting that their findings could throw light to the geological activities on Pluto shot by New Horizons, which could be the result of a subsurface ocean that is only partial at this point.