We are always looking for water on the planet. It is one of the basic elements for life. We at least want to know if these planets had water or oceans in the past. In this way, certain black rock waves in front of Sputnik Planitia were examined. Where? In a pelvis that forms the left lobe of Pluto's heart. And it turns out that it provides new evidence that the dwarf planet under review has an ocean 150 kilometers thick. Pluto's ocean would be between its crust and core.
The results are the result of analysis of the data the New Horizons spacecraft sent after its Pluto flyby in 2015. They were introduced at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. This was held virtually. Her physical meeting was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The impact that cut out the Sputnik Planitia basin could have sent shock waves around Pluto. These destroyed the landscape on the other hand, according to the results published for the first time in October, which have not yet been assessed by experts. There is evidence of a similar event on Mercury. You are obvious. A 1,528-kilometer impact crater lies on the other side of the planet as a region of chaotic geography, reports Scientific American.
Move the planet
"If the impact is large enough, the planet itself can act as a lens. This focuses the energy of the waves on the opposite point on the planet before the impact." The planetary scientist at Purdue University told Science News.
When a projectile with a diameter of 400 kilometers hits a dwarf planet like Pluto, it generates a shock wave. As it spreads across the surface of the distant world, the waves also travel through its center. But they would move in different materials at different speeds. They do this quickly through the dense core of the dwarf planet and slowly through the icy crust. Through a flowing ocean even more slowly, reports Smithsonian Magazine.
The model is still in early development. But it contributes to a growing collection of hypotheses suggesting that there may be water on Pluto. In 2016, based on analysis of surface cracks and spherical shape, experts concluded that an underground ocean could be to blame. And research published last year suggests that the impact on Sputnik Planitia could have broken the earth's crust. Perhaps this is how he brought Pluto's ocean to the surface, where he frozen and tilted Pluto in its current orientation.
