{"id":19170,"date":"2016-11-16T17:27:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T09:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/how-a-shifting-ocean-caused-pluto-to-flip-over-putting-its-heart-in-the-right-place\/"},"modified":"2016-11-16T17:27:05","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T09:27:05","slug":"how-a-shifting-ocean-caused-pluto-to-flip-over-putting-its-heart-in-the-right-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/how-a-shifting-ocean-caused-pluto-to-flip-over-putting-its-heart-in-the-right-place\/","title":{"rendered":"How a shifting ocean caused Pluto to flip over \u2013 putting its \u2018heart\u2019 in the right place"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_289563\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-289563\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-289563\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161116-pluto-flip-630x505.jpg\" alt=\"Pluto's reorientation\" width=\"630\" height=\"505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161116-pluto-flip-630x505.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161116-pluto-flip-768x616.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161116-pluto-flip.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-289563\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sputnik Planitia, the left lobe of Pluto\u2019s \u201cheart,\u201d is thought to have formed as the result of a giant impact early in the dwarf planet\u2019s history. This graphic shows how the icy world reoriented itself as the impact basin filled with volatile ices. (Credit: James Keane \/ University of Arizona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pluto\u2019s famous heart-shaped feature may well have migrated over the course of millions of years as the dwarf planet spun, and that would add to the evidence for a slushy ocean hidden beneath the ice, two groups of scientists say.<\/p>\n<p>In separate reports published today by the journal Nature, the scientists say a reorientation of the faraway world\u2019s most famous feature&nbsp;would provide the best explanation for phenomena observed during last year\u2019s flyby of NASA\u2019s New Horizons probe&nbsp;\u2013 including patterns of cracks in the ice.<\/p>\n<p>Most tellingly, it would explain why the heart-shaped feature, known informally as Tombaugh Regio, lines up almost precisely opposite Pluto\u2019s biggest moon, Charon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe asked, \u2018What\u2019s the chance of that randomly happening?\u2019 And it\u2019s less than 5 percent that it would be so perfectly opposite,\u201d MIT Professor Richard Binzel, a co-author of one of the reports, said in a news release. \u201cAnd then the question becomes, what was it that caused the alignment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Below Pluto's 'Heart' A Slushy Ocean May Churn | Video\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NsGFSOaLQfo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The scientists\u2019 explanation starts with a massive collision between Pluto and another celestial body early in its history. That would have created an impact basin in the area that\u2019s known today as Sputnik Planitia, which is the left-hand lobe of Tombaugh Regio\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n<p>Computer models suggest that, over time, the basin filled in with subsurface slush as well as nitrogen ice that settled out of Pluto\u2019s thin atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>Such a buildup would have created a gravitational anomaly for Sputnik Planitia. As Pluto and Charon whirled around each other, the anomaly would have forced the planet to reorient itself on its axis. The disruptive effect would be similar to that caused by putting a wad of chewing gum on a spinning top, or throwing a spitball.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, the reorientation would put Sputnik Planitia\u2019s mass on the equator, opposite to the side of the planet that perpetually faces Charon.<\/p>\n<p>The&nbsp;phenomenon, known as polar wander, is thought to have affected the orientation of Earth\u2019s moon and Mars billions of years ago. But on Pluto, the process may still be active, the scientists said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts entire geology&nbsp;\u2013 glaciers, mountains, valleys&nbsp;\u2013 seems to be linked to volatile processes. That\u2019s different from most other planets and moons in our solar system,\u201d the University of Arizona\u2019s James Keane said in a news release. Keane is the principal&nbsp;author of the second report published by Nature.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"How Pluto flipped over\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hg4bIQPX0_I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.75\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"600\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 600px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Keane and his colleagues&nbsp;point to characteristic cracks in Pluto\u2019s surface ice, which matches up with what would be expected from computer models for frozen water from a subsurface ocean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like freezing ice cubes,\u201d Keane said. \u201cAs the water turns to ice, it expands. On a planetary scale, this process breaks the surface around the planet and creates the faults we see today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The scenario is consistent with the study published by Binzel and his colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tried to think of other ways to get a positive gravity anomaly, and none of them look as likely as a subsurface ocean,\u201d the study\u2019s principal author, Francis Nimmo of the University of California at Santa Cruz, said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-188079 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pluto1.png\" alt=\"pluto\" width=\"250\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pluto1.png 250w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pluto1-200x151.png 200w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pluto1-132x100.png 132w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\"><br \/>\n<strong>Science journalist Alan Boyle<\/strong>&nbsp;is the author of &#8220;The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made A Big Difference.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The subsequent buildup of frozen nitrogen would add to the gravitational anomaly, creating the thick glaciers that the New Horizons probe saw covering the surface of Sputnik Planitia.<\/p>\n<p>Other studies have suggested that Pluto still possesses a slushy subsurface ocean, and the patterns of cracks observed in the surface ice are consistent with that view, Nimmo and his colleagues say.<\/p>\n<p>Nimmo suspects that Pluto\u2019s ocean contains compounds such as ammonia that act as an antifreeze. He also notes that other large objects in the Kuiper Belt, the broad ring of icy material that lies beyond Neptune\u2019s orbit, are similar to Pluto in size and density.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we look at these other objects, they may be equally interesting, not just frozen snowballs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><em>In addition to Nimmo and Binzel, the authors of \u201cReorientation of Sputnik Planitia Implies a Subsurface Ocean on Pluto\u201d include D.P. Hamilton, W.B. McKinnon,&nbsp;P.M. Schenk, C.J. Bierson, R.A. Beyer, J.M. Moore, S.A. Stern, H.A. Weaver, C.B. Olkin, L.A. Young, K.E. Smith and the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Theme Team.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In addition to Keane, the authors of \u201cReorientation and Faulting of Pluto Due to Volatile Loading Within Sputnik Planitia\u201d include Isamu Matsuyama, Shunichi Kamata and Jordan Steckloff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sputnik Planitia, the left lobe of Pluto\u2019s \u201cheart,\u201d is thought to have formed as the result of a giant impact early in the dwarf planet\u2019s history. This graphic shows how the icy world reoriented itself as the impact basin filled with volatile ices. (Credit: James Keane \/ University of Arizona) Pluto\u2019s famous heart-shaped feature may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2848],"class_list":["post-19170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-pluto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}