Skyscraper-size spikes of methane ice may surround Pluto’s equator
Mehtane ice cream skyscrapers can cover around 60% of PlutoThe Equatorial Region – a larger area than previously estimated scientists, according to new research.
The study, published on July 5 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planetswas based on the data collected by the NASA New Horizons Spatial, which captured the first close images of the little world a decade ago on July 14, 2015.
During this overflight, the spacecraft identified methane ice cream arrows, each about 1,000 feet (300 meters) in height – about as high as the Eiffel Tower. They are separated by up to 4.4 miles (7 kilometers) in somewhat parallel rows to form a geological characteristic that astronomers call a “blade ground”.
The arrows were identified in high altitude regions along the equator of the dwarf planet in the region of Tartare Dorsa, a mountainous section just east of the famous of Pluto Regio heart -shaped tomb.
The characteristics seem to be a larger but more spaced version of the earth penitents – water ice structures that are formed in high altitude regions, such as Andes, and reach a maximum of 9 feet (3 m). Similar structures have also been Seen on the moon of Jupiter Europa and can exist on Mars.
In relation: Pluto can have a `supervolcano ” of ice in the size of Yellowstone, reveal the data from New Horizons
New Horizons could not take high resolution images from the lame to the side of Pluto who faced the probe – the meeting hemisphere – during his overview. But additional data collected at infrared frequencies have suggested that most of the equatorial region of the dwarf planet, even on the non-meeting hemisphere, was rich in methane. This suggested that the arrows are also there.
However, the photos of the non -seller hemisphere of Pluto are too vague to directly locate the arrows. One way to detect them, however, is to use “indirect indices in the images”, ” Ishan MishraA postdoctoral scholarship holder with the Pasadena Laboratory propulsion in California, and the first author of the new study, told Live Science in an email.
These indirect indices, said Mishra, include surface roughness – irregularities, including slopes or ridges such as Pluto arrows – which have been detected on scales that are too small for space engine cameras to be resolved. He noted that more rough surfaces seem darker than the smoother under the same lighting conditions because the irregularities create shadows. This means that rough surfaces covered with blade would produce a detectable “darkening” trend, even if it was impossible to identify the ice tips directly.
After this reasoning, the authors of the study analyzed the photos of Pluto in which the light had been reflected from the surface to many different angles. Using this reflectance data, the researchers studied how the brightness of the Pluto surface varied as a function of the viewing angle. They focused on six specific regions, especially the blade terrain that the spacecraft had spotted on the hemisphere of the meeting and the hypothetical blade ground on the other side of the dwarf planet. Using a mathematical model, the team then calculated the way in which the brightness of the surface varied with roughness.
Astronomers noted that, despite a great variation in each region, the regions rich in methane on the dark side were very rough – on average, twice as rough as the blade ground in the hemisphere of meeting.
The results imply that the lame of the ice arrows exists in a group covering around 60% of the planet’s circumference – equivalent to five times the width of the continental United States – with a majority located on the non -seller hemisphere. But it is not clear if the group is continuous or unequal, told Mishra to Live Science.
The strip extends between 30 degrees north and south of the Equator of Pluto, where climatic conditions seem just to make the tips formed, explained Mishra. “The formation of the field in blade depends on the long-term cycles of condensation and sublimation of methane, which are governed by the seasons of Pluto and the orbital variations,” he said.
Direct evidence will be necessary to confirm the new observations. The most definitive way to confirm the extension of the lame terrain in the dark side of Pluto is a future spacecraft mission, Mishra said. “Until then, studies like ours offer the best indirect evidence using available data.”
