By Nicolas Enault
This is a new world that is being unveiled “We had no idea. what to expect, it could be interesting, no more … But the extraordinary thing about exploration, science is that nature always provided us with incredible surprises “ says former astronaut John Grunsfeld, director of scientific missions of NASA, during a press conference Wednesday, July 15. With the first data sent by the New Horizons probe, US scientists are beginning to unravel the mysteries of the dwarf planet on the border of our solar system.
Geological treasures
One of the first elements identified by the teams of NASA is the presence of rock formations in the equatorial region of the dwarf planet. These mountains which rise to 3500 m altitude indicate that the ice crust which office is strong enough to support high mountains.
“This is one of the youngest surfaces ever seen in the solar system” , says Jeff Moore of Geology and Geophysics team’s mission. These courses would have appeared there are 100 million years, which is relatively young compared with the age of the solar system (4.5 billion years).
But the discovery of these mountains raises many questions about how they were formed and, more generally, on the knowledge that scientists had previously geological activity icy stars. The surface of Europa and Ganymede, the icy moons of Jupiter, for example, is the result of the gravitational pull of the giant planet. This is not the case of Pluto that do not revolve around a bigger celestial body.
Large frozen wastes
At a conference press, held Friday, July 17, NASA unveiled the existence of a large icy plain, in “Region Tombaugh,” the name given to the vast area in the shape of heart.
“The discovery of this vast plain young enough without impact craters on Pluto exceeds all expectations” , said Jeffrey Moore, one of the mission scientists. The team of the New Horizons mission called this icy plain “Plain Sputnik”, named after the first artificial satellite sent into space by the Soviet Union.
An atmosphere that escapes
Another discovery, the researchers found that Pluto’s atmosphere, composed primarily of nitrogen, escapes the dwarf planet. A phenomenon due to the low gravity of the dwarf planet.
The nitrogen will escape a sizeable pace. “About 500 tons per hour”, said Fran Bagenal, a scientific mission. It hopes to refine its estimates and better understand this process with future shipments data sent by the probe.
Mysteries piercing
Another discovery announced NASA, the virtual absence of craters on the surface of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. This is a surprise because Pluto is in the Kuiper Belt which is “regularly bombed debris” by John Spencer, one of the researchers of the mission.
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