A recent study published in Nature sheds some light on what's hiding beneath Pluto's surface.
Last year's dramatic Pluto fly-by showcased a heart-like shape that puzzled many space observers. But a recent study published in Nature sheds some light on what's hiding beneath the surface.
Speaking to ResearchGate about the study, lead author Tanguy Bertrand from the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in France said Pluto's heart-shaped region is made up of "highly volatile nitrogen ice" that accumulates over time to forms a deep "permanent resovoir of ice."
"This happens because of nitrogen's solid-gas equilibrium," Bertrand told ResearchGate. "At the bottom of the basin the pressure of the atmosphere—and therefore of gaseous nitrogen—is higher, thus the frost temperature is higher than the outside. As a result, nitrogen prefers to condense into ice there."
Such "relentless glacial activity...was totally unexpected on such a small icy object like Pluto," he said.
Bertrand's explanation comes a year after NASA's New Horizons spacecraft had its up-close encounter with the dwarf planet, providing scientists with a treasure trove of data to explore.
"We knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, [but] our expectation has been more than surpassed," John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said at the time. "With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling."