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RAKYATKU.COM – Researchers believe that water could sink to Pluto after finding frozen ammonia on the surface of the dwarf planet.
A large crack discovered on Pluto following its flight from the space probe New Horizons in 2015 would now be due to volcanic activity, quoted in Sky News, Saturday (1/6/2019).
Unlike the volcanic activity on Earth, which is fed by hot nuclei and magma on this planet, the cryovolcano does not explode with molten rocks, but with other materials – such as water and ammonia – which have a low boiling point.
The researchers examined the area of the crack, known as Virgil Fossa, which they say could be covered with ammonia because of its reddish-brown color.
This would be a rare finding if it was confirmed because ammonia breaks easily when it is exposed to ultraviolet light and charged particles in the solar wind.
But data from New Horizons, which also show frozen water on the surface of Pluto, confirm that the reddish brown zone is covered with ammonia.
According to researchers, this means that it is likely that Pluto stores liquid water beneath its surface.
Since ammonia does not last long when it is exposed to vacuum, researchers believe that it is impossible to stay on the surface for too long.
Their research shows that it has resurfaced in the last few million years because of cryovolcanism on dwarf planets.
A cryovolcanic activity has also been detected on the moon of Saturn Enceladus, one of the main candidates for the presence of liquid water and therefore to the extra-terrestrial life of our solar system.
The extreme distance from Pluto to the sun means the presence of liquid water on the surface of the planet – whose temperature is -230 ° C – impossible.
But beneath the surface, there might be liquid water warmed by the heat of the nuclear nucleus of the dwarf planet.
Researchers from various American institutions and one from France publish their work in the journal Science Advances.
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