Everything we thought we knew about Pluto, the planet beyond our solar system, has been
completely changed by the recent outburst of extreme fluctuation.
When scientists investigated Pluto, they discovered extraordinary features that had never been
seen before in our solar system, contrary to earlier assumptions that it was an icy
dwarf planet with little to no activity.
It's incredible to think that we now have a better understanding of the planet than
ever before.
NASA has made recent James Webb images of planets in all their glory available, and
they are absolutely brilliant, to put it simply.
What unexpected finding did the James Webb Space Telescope make on Pluto?
Is it a possible nexus for intergalactic activity?
Join us as we investigate the startling new discovery on Pluto made by the James Webb
Space Telescope, which changes everything.
Pluto was previously thought to be the ninth and farthest planet from the sun.
The unusual world is located in the Kuiper belt a region beyond Neptune's orbit that
is brimming with one trillion or more comets and tens of thousands of rocky icy planets
each more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) across.
Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006, therefore ending its status as a planet.
This reclassification provoked discussion and disagreement among scientists and the
general public.
After discovering unusual irregularities in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus, American
astronomer Percival Lowell hypothesized the existence of Pluto in 1905.
Lowell reasoned that the orbits of these ice giants must be misaligned because of another
object's gravity dragging on them.
Lowell went on to estimate the location of the intriguing planet in 1915, but he died
15 years before it was discovered based on his and other astronomers' calculations.
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in 1930.
Pluto is so far away from Earth that little was known about the dwarf planet's size or
surface conditions until 2015, when NASA's New Horizon space probe made a close flyby
of Pluto.
Pluto has a diameter of 1473 miles (2370 kilometers), which is less than one-fifth the diameter
of Earth and only about two-thirds the width of the moon.
Recent computer simulations, on the other hand, show how fortunate Pluto is to be in
its current orbit, as the dwarf planet approaches a chaotic orbit that may perhaps destroy the
beautiful world.
In comparison to the orbits of the other planets, the old ninth planet's orbit is exceptionally
inclined and long.
Pluto actually moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first 20 years of its 248-year journey
around the sun due to Azimuthal libration and latitude libration, two aspects of Pluto's
orbit that prevent them from ever clashing.
When Pluto crosses Neptune to orbit, it remains at least 90 degrees distant from Neptune,
a phenomenon known as azimuthal libration.
Latitude libration, on the other hand, ensures that Pluto remains far above both the plane
of the solar system and Neptune or any other huge planets when it is closest to them.
Takashi Ito of Japan's National Astronomical Observatory and Renu Malhotra of the University
of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have expanded their knowledge of Pluto's survivability
in this orbit.
Scientists found that Neptune has the most impact on Pluto's azimuthal libration because
of the two planets' three to two orbital resonance, which states that Pluto orbits the sun exactly
twice for every three times Neptune orbits the sun.
However, the models imply that Neptune has little influence on Pluto's latitudinal liberation.
When you factor in Uranus' gravity, though, things start to go haywire since Uranus acts
to undermine both azimuthal and latitudinal limitations.
Only these two planets might have caused Pluto's orbit to become erratic after tens or hundreds
of millions of years, causing Pluto to either smash into Neptune or, more likely, be thrown
out of the solar system entirely.
Pluto is protected by Jupiter and, to a lesser extent, Saturn.
Although Neptune and Uranus are farther distant from Pluto, their gravitational pull is powerful
enough for them to still dominate.
Jupiter alone has enough gravitational pull to keep Pluto in the same orbit for at least
5 billion years, which is how long the simulations were ran.
The startling feature of this new research is the limited size of Pluto's zone of stability
and how the dwarf planet's only chance alignment with the other planets in the solar system
allows it to exist.
A large heart-shaped region on Pluto's surface, informally known as Tombaugh Regio, is another
distinguishing feature.
More changes in the surface materials composition have been discovered as carbon monoxide ice
has coated the left side of the area that resembles an ice cream cone within Pluto's
heart.
In commemoration of the planet's first man-made satellite, Sputnik, the new horizons team
refers to a very smooth section in the center-left of Tombaugh Regio as the Sputnik Planum.
This part of Pluto's surface has no craters left over from meteorite strikes, suggesting
that it isn't more than 100 million years old geologically, and geologic processes are
likely actively sculpting and reshaping it.
Black streaks a few kilometers long and oriented in the same direction can also be detected
on these frozen fields; the lines could be caused by powerful winds blowing across the
dwarf planet's surface.
Pluto's surface is one of the coldest places in the solar system, with temperatures ranging
from -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit.
When compared to prior Hubble space telescope images, Pluto appears to have become redder
over time, presumably due to seasonal fluctuations.
There is some indication that Pluto had a subterranean ocean, but this is still debatable.
Pluto's past may have been influenced by the presence of subsurface water.
For example, scientists observed that the zone of Sputnik Planitia changed Pluto's orientation
due to the area's high concentration of ice, which New Horizons calculated to be roughly
6 miles thick 10 kilometers thick.
However, after evaluating less likely possibilities, the researchers concluded that a subterranean
ocean is the best fit for the observations, despite the fact that a thicker ice covering
or changes in the rock could be to blame for the shift.
Recent research is examining images of a location with two enormous mounds that experts believe
are ice volcanoes.
According to the study's findings, the surface surrounding these mounds was most likely formed
by relatively recent activity of ice volcanoes or cryovolcanoes.
The discovery implies that liquid water or something similar is still flowing or has
recently flowed beneath Pluto's surface, and that these volcanoes are still active.
Furthermore, recent activity indicates that Pluto's interior is likely to be warmer than
originally anticipated.
Given previous recent discoveries, the scientists believe their results could raise the chance
of life beneath Pluto's surface.
The researchers analyzed images of a region dominated by the Wright Mons and Piccard Mons,
two sizable mounds believed to be cryovolcanoes.
In comparison to Piccard Mons, which is around 4 miles (7 kilometers) high and 150 miles
(250 kilometers) wide, Wright Mons is about 2.5 to 3 miles (four to five kilometers) high
and 90 miles (150 kilometers) wide.
Incredibly deep depressions are present on the peaks of the suspected ice volcanoes.
The topography also has a unique lumpy or hummocky appearance in some spots made up
of undulating spherical mounts, and the Wright Mons depression is almost as deep as the mound
itself.
According to the experts, these two enormous mounds may have grown over time as a result
of the accumulation of smaller ice volcano generated mounds.
"There were no other areas on Pluto that look like this region," says Kelsi Singer, a planetary
scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
"And it's totally unique in the solar system."
This area of Pluto has fewer or no impact craters than other areas, implying that the
surface was formed relatively recently in geological time.
The lack of craters meant that the region was just one or two billion years old, with
certain areas maybe as young as 200 million years.
Because Pluto has a considerable amount of its surface covered in ice, cryovolcanoes
are similar to volcanoes on Earth in certain ways.
Because its temperatures are far lower than the freezing point of water, liquid water
or something comparable that is at least somewhat fluid or mobile would behave similarly to
magma on Earth.
Rising to the surface after an eruption and solidifying or freezing.
It's most likely not totally liquid.
It's probably more like a slushy mix of liquid and ice, or it could even be more like a flowing
solid.
Singer stated that it may be more like ketchup or silly putty, or it could be more solid
ice that can still flow.
We all know that ice can flow since glaciers exist on Earth, she explained.
Pluto's cryovolcanic activity is likely powered by radiogenic heat generated by the breakdown
of radioactive materials in the dwarf planet's interior.
Despite the fact that scientists do not fully understand how it works.
Pluto lacks plate tectonics, the complex system of moving continental crust that supports
Earth's geologic activity.
A similar occurrence, though, is one of the sources of heat in the earth's interior.
Scientists use the phrase general tectonics to explain geologic activity like that on
Pluto, which may still produce characteristics like faults in rock but lacks tectonic plates.
Earth's shield volcanoes, which are low-profile volcanoes generated by the slow accumulation
of lava flows into rounded structures, have some traits with Pluto's cryovolcanoes.
Instead of thinking of Mount Saint Helens or Vesuvius, picture the volcanoes of the
Hawaiian Islands.
But unlike what researchers think happened on Pluto, shield volcanoes frequently pop
up from highly liquid lava.
When a newly erupted volcano collapses into the space left by all the debris spewed forth,
it forms a caldera, which is a depression in the center of several volcanoes on Earth
and other planets.
Despite the fact that Mauna Loa, a shield volcano in Hawaii, is one of the largest volcanoes
on the planet with a pretty small caldera, the two structures are similar in volume because
the depression on Wright Mons is so deep that the volcano would have had to lose nearly
half of its volume to be similar in shape.
Given recent studies that implies Pluto was hot when it first formed and may still have
a liquid ocean under its icy surface, there is still a lot that is unknown about these
formations, their development, and Pluto's cryo-volcanism.
The discovery of liquid water beneath Pluto's surface raises the possibility of life on
Pluto from nearly non-existent to slightly more feasible, and scientists are eager to
learn more about our own planet as well as those outside our solar system.
Furthermore, some other NASA solar system missions are greatly aided by Webb's unprecedented
advancements in sensitivity and resolution data at multiple wavelengths and from many
sources can assist us in developing a more detailed picture of Pluto.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.