{"id":19245,"date":"2016-09-14T22:50:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/how-plutos-methane-turned-into-red-spray-paint-on-its-biggest-moon-charon\/"},"modified":"2016-09-14T22:50:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:50:23","slug":"how-plutos-methane-turned-into-red-spray-paint-on-its-biggest-moon-charon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/how-plutos-methane-turned-into-red-spray-paint-on-its-biggest-moon-charon\/","title":{"rendered":"How Pluto\u2019s methane turned into red \u2018spray paint\u2019 on its biggest moon Charon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Charon,
NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto\u2019s largest moon, Charon, just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. Scientists have learned that reddish material in the north (top) polar region \u2013 informally named Mordor Macula \u2013 is chemically processed methane that escaped from Pluto\u2019s atmosphere onto Charon. (Credit: NASA \/ JHUAPL \/ SwRI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When NASA\u2019s New Horizons probe sent back pictures of Pluto\u2019s largest moon, Charon, researchers were surprised to see a big red spot on its north pole. More than a year later, they\u2019ve published their best explanation for its origin.<\/p>\n

Mission scientists guessed at the basic outlines of the answer a year ago, but in a paper published today by the journal Nature, they lay out the computer modeling to back up their guess.<\/p>\n

The process begins when molecules of methane escape from Pluto\u2019s thin atmosphere. Those molecules are drawn to Charon, a mere 12,200 miles away, by the moon\u2019s gravitational pull. The rarefied methane gas freezes out and settles onto the surface as ice.<\/p>\n

Methane ice piles up when it\u2019s winter in the north, but when the season turns toward spring, the northern polar region is exposed to sunlight. The sun\u2019s ultraviolet rays cook the methane into a mix of hydrocarbons.<\/p>\n

As the ice warms up, any methane that remains thaws back into gas. But the heavier hydrocarbons stick around on the surface, and get cooked into reddish organic compounds known as tholins.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MoUcYr5I92Y<\/p>\n

The computer models developed by the New Horizons team show that Charon\u2019s poles would experience 100 years of continuous darkness, soon followed by 100 years of continuous sunlight.<\/p>\n

During the depths of winter, temperatures dip as low as 430 degrees below zero Fahrenheit \u2013 cold enough for methane ice. In summer, the temperature rises to 351 degrees below zero. That\u2019s way colder than it ever gets on Earth, but warm enough on Charon to turn methane back into a gas. The models point to 414 degrees below zero F (25 Kelvin) as the transition temperature.<\/p>\n

\"pluto\"
\nScience journalist Alan Boyle<\/strong> is the author of “The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made A Big Difference.”<\/p>\n

Over the course of millions of years, reddish tholins should build up at the poles like layers of paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho would have thought that Pluto is a graffiti artist, spray-painting its companion with a reddish stain that covers an area the size of New Mexico?\u201d lead study author Will Grundy, a New Horizons co-investigator from Lowell Observatory, said in a NASA news release. \u201cEvery time we explore, we find surprises. Nature is amazingly inventive in using the basic laws of physics and chemistry to create spectacular landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n

When New Horizons zoomed past Pluto and Charon on July 14, 2015, the south pole was shrouded in wintry darkness. The spacecraft\u2019s cameras could see it only in the ultra-dim light reflected by Pluto\u2019s surface. Nevertheless, those observations confirm that the same process is at work in the south.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The researchers note that Nix, one of Pluto\u2019s smaller moons, shows a slight reddening as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study solves one of the greatest mysteries we found on Charon, Pluto\u2019s giant moon,\u201d said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute. \u201cAnd it opens up the possibility that other small planets in the Kuiper Belt with moons may create similar, or even more extensive \u2018atmospheric transfer\u2019 features on their moons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grundy and Stern are among more than 80 authors of the Nature paper, titled \u201cThe Formation of Charon\u2019s Red Poles From Seasonally Cold-Trapped Volatiles.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto\u2019s largest moon, Charon, just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. Scientists have learned that reddish material in the north (top) polar region \u2013 informally named Mordor Macula \u2013 is chemically processed methane that escaped from Pluto\u2019s atmosphere onto Charon. (Credit: NASA \/ […]<\/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":[2172,4809,2174,4810,2848],"class_list":["post-19245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-charon","tag-nasa-new-horizons","tag-new-horizons","tag-new-horizons-probe","tag-pluto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19245"}],"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=19245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}