Observations and data from the New Horizons probe regarding the dwarf planet Pluto have revealed this incredible possibility
The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience in May 2019, analyzed a region called Sputnik Planitialocated near the equator and extending for approximately 700mila square kilometers. It is a whitish ellipse-shaped basin and, given its position and shape, it is assumed that underneath it hosts an ocean of liquid water. The problem is that this contradicts Pluto’s age. The ocean should have frozen a long time ago given the average surface temperature of – 235 °C.
So how can we explain the presence of liquid water?
Researchers have wondered what could keep the ocean liquid by keeping it ‘heat‘: an insulating layer of gas hydrates. Gas hydrates are solid compounds (clathrates) made up of water and natural gases of low molecular weight, which form in environments characterized by low temperature, high pressure and sufficient gas concentration. The heaviest gas present in this layer could be the methane coming from the core of the dwarf planet.
Pluto’s atmosphere
This hypothesis is consistent with the composition of the atmosphere of Pluto that is, rich in nitrogen and poor in methane. Obviously various simulations have been made: they have proven that the ocean would have frozen completely hundreds of millions of years ago, if there hadn’t been this layer of gas hydrates. The presence of these protective layers could open up new scenarios: perhaps the presence of liquid water preserved under the crust of astronomical objects even very far from it’s not that unlikely. On the contrary! We await new studies and analyses Sputnik Planitia and more particularly of Pluto which never ceases to amaze us.
Read more:
