Capital Wired

Keeps You Updated

Monday, January 18, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Business
  • Health
  • Tech & Science
  • Sports
  • World
  • US
  • Latest News
    • How To Make Your Own Home-Brewed Morphine
    • Using Mouthwash Too Often Puts You at Risk of Obesity and Diabetes
    • Walmart to Solve its Supply Chain Issues and Further Cut Down on Costs
    • The World’s Most Expensive Christmas Decorations
    • Netflix Hopes to Balance Data Limit With Great Video Quality
    • Joji Morishita says Japan Will Resume Whaling
    • The Most Beloved Plastic Surgeries Among Americans
    • Skype for Web Allows Non-Users to Take Part In Its Online Chats

Pages

  • About Capital Wired
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Reprint & Licensing
  • Staff
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Here’s Why Your Brain Keeps Worrying about Everything June 29, 2018
  • Don’t Throw That Sunscreen after Summer Is Up June 29, 2018
  • Analysts: Currency War between U.S. and China Might Be Looming June 28, 2018
  • Starbucks Rival The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Opening 100 Shops June 27, 2018
  • Study Finds We Are Alone in the Universe June 26, 2018
  • Restaurant Owner Not Sorry for Booting Sarah Sanders June 26, 2018
  • Beware of the Hidden Salt in Your Food! June 25, 2018

Liquid Ocean on Pluto

June 25, 2016 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow
Pluto surface with underground liquid ocean

Researchers drafted a new model to accommodate the possibility of an liquid ocean.

New Horizons discovered something that looks like a liquid ocean on Pluto. It seems that the small ex-planet still has a lot of secrets to reveal, and the spacecraft is still there to send information on Earth.

Scientists from Brown University and experts from the Planetary Science Institute took a look at the subsurface ocean from Pluto and found enough evidence to believe that the surface of the dwarf planet has the conditions to foster a liquid ocean.

The data collected by New Horizon shows long faults that are hundreds of miles long and that run deep into the surface of Pluto. These formations are similar to canyons and appeared after the planet’s crust expanded under the pressure of the subsurface ocean that froze and increased in volume.

The researchers used a new model of Pluto which was designed by the Brown University. The scientists presume that the water below the surface, under the force of an extreme pressure, could have created a compact crystal structure.

The ice II model assumes that crystallized water could consist of pieces in rhombohedral forms. The transformation of the water from under the surface of the planet would have then made the planet shrink, as the rhombohedral crystals arranged themselves in particular stratifications which led to a decrease in the volume of the water layer. The mentioned modifications brought along the surface shrinking that later caused the canyons.

However, the team of scientists did not find any evidence that Pluto had decreased in surface and volume as it should have under the ice II model. Thus, they started to revise the theory trying to find what assumption was incorrect.

While analyzing the model’s faults, the scientists came to the conclusion that the ice underneath Pluto’s surface was not created as it shows in the previous theoretic form. While making simulations on the ice II model, they discovered that the ice thickness would have needed to be 160 miles in depth, which was contradicted by other data collected by the space observatory.

The new model shows that the surface solid layer should have been at least 190 miles thick in order to exert enough force to create the underneath water freeze.

The scientists are also inclined to believe that the internal layers of the dwarf planet may be hotter than initially thought. This possibility is introduced by the fact that Pluto’s tidal stress is substantially high. Moreover, the scientists found evidence of radioactive decay that could also signify higher temperatures under the surface.

The new model is important because it may be used to predict the presence of an underground liquid ocean in other Kuiper Belt objects, which may be significant for further space explorations.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Email, RSS Follow

Brian Galloway

Brian’s philosophy is pretty straightforward: easy living, wishful thinking, heavy criticizing. Despite the fact that he wouldn’t go as far as describe himself a conspirationist, Brian does take everything with a grain of sand. He loves following every lead when covering a story and mostly enjoys to cover politics and US news.

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: frozen water crystals, ice II model, liquid ocean, Liquid Ocean on Pluto, New Horizons, Pluto

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent Articles

dc logo on black galaxy background

Ava DuVernay to Direct DC’s New Gods Adaptation

March 16, 2018 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

leonardo davinci's signature in black

Is DaVinci’s Record Breaking Painting Authentic?

November 20, 2017 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

stephen hawking

Stephen Hawking Makes Gloomy Prediction For Earth In A 100 Years

May 7, 2017 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

"Dwayne Johnson not dead"

Dwayne Johnson Died this Week or Not

January 19, 2016 By Jason Leathers 3 Comments

There Are At Least Three More Seasons of Game of Thrones To Go

July 31, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Homelessness Soars in L.A., Officials Pledge to House Everybody by 2016

May 12, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

FBI Releases National Report on Slain Police Officers, Figures are Alarming

May 12, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

New York Nuclear Plant Partially Shut Down due to Hudson Oil Slick

May 11, 2015 By Jason Leathers 2 Comments

Obama Draws Heat from Democrats over Asia Trade Deal

May 9, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Florida Governor Changes Stance on Obamacare Once More, Budget on Hold

May 9, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Secret Service to add an Extra Layer of Spikes to White House Fence

May 8, 2015 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

Police Arrested Suspect in death of Student who tried to Sell Car on Craigslist

May 8, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 1 Comment

AccuWeather.com: 2015 Atlantic Tropical Storm Season is Officially Open

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

Illinois Student Found Dead after Trying to Sell his Car on Craigslist

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 2 Comments

Related Articles

  • ET movie

    Study Finds We Are Alone in the Universe

    Jun 26, 2018
  • Sarah Huckabee Sanders

    Restaurant Owner Not Sorry for Booting Sarah Sanders

    Jun 26, 2018
  • New Type of Photosynthesis Spotted in Blue-Green Algae

    Jun 20, 2018
  • Tropical fish and coral reef

    Coral Reefs Save Us from Flooding (Study)

    Jun 14, 2018
  • NASA astronaut on the moon

    NASA Astronauts Warmed Up the Moon in the 1970s

    Jun 12, 2018
  • Antarctic landscape

    Antarctica Experiencing Routine Earthquakes Like Any Other Continent

    Jun 5, 2018
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch

    SpaceX Launches Powerful Communications Satellite into Orbit

    Jun 5, 2018
  • Planet Pluto

    Scientists Have New Theory About Pluto’s Formation

    May 30, 2018
  • The Milky Way

    NASA Uses Lasers to Re-Create Coldest Spot in the Universe

    May 22, 2018
  • Plastic bottle on a sand beach

    Earth Has Had 33 Years of Above-than-Average Temperatures

    May 21, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 capitalwired.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.