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New Horizons mission to Pluto

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AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#76: Jul 15th 2015 at 5:51:04 PM

Pluto is as old as the solar system, as are all Kuiper belt objects.

Charon could look "youthful" because Pluto takes the hits normally aimed at it - as a "double planet", Pluto is constantly orbiting the epicenter as well.

A little nostalgia: the first time anyone got any sort of detail of Pluto, back in 1996.

edited 15th Jul '15 5:53:30 PM by AnotherGuy

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#77: Jul 15th 2015 at 6:07:12 PM

It's strange that a body so far away from any energy source would still have geologic activity.

edited 15th Jul '15 6:07:30 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#78: Jul 15th 2015 at 6:53:07 PM

[up][up]Except Pluto and Charon seem to have fairly young surfaces. Hence... I don't think the configuration that we're seeing now has existed for all that long, stellar-system speaking. Also, the two are pretty close, and many of the other dots (well: rugby balls) orbiting around the pair are in some very fishy trajectories.

The smash that created this lot? Can't have been all that long ago (which might also explain the geology: they're still settling down?). Proto!Pluto was likely as old as most of the rest of the system, but... like Proto!Earth, sometimes, accidents happen that change the game. And, I'd say Proto!Pluto got lucky: a bit more force, and smithereeny, dusty, rubble cloud o' rugby balls and even tinier (if more) marbles. -_-

Take Uranus and Neptune and their orbit-switching and traveling outward games... tongue

edited 15th Jul '15 7:08:51 PM by Euodiachloris

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#79: Jul 15th 2015 at 7:09:21 PM

It could be that, but the articles I've seen suggest geologic activity instead. Cant they tell how long ago a body suffered a collision by looking at oscillations in it's orbit?

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#80: Jul 15th 2015 at 7:16:29 PM

[up]A molten core for geology to happen with? It takes quite a while even for a small ball to cool down from a mega hit. But, that hit would provide a lot of heat for a while. :/

Even gravity games with Charon, Neptune and/or other icy balls way out on the other side of their orbit can't possibly supply enough tidal energy to keep a teeny, tiny geologic dynamo ticking for 4 billion years, surely? Unless you're suggesting Pluto lucked out with a concentrated mass of radioactive material somehow? wink

edited 15th Jul '15 7:18:43 PM by Euodiachloris

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#81: Jul 15th 2015 at 7:19:10 PM

There's the fact that it moves in and out of Neptunes orbit on a regular basis. Heating/Refreezing can warp terrain out of whack.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Gaunt88 from Australia Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#82: Jul 15th 2015 at 7:23:04 PM

I've seen speculation that it's operating on some sort ice-based geography that wouldn't need as much energy as rock.

Regardless, this is really exciting!

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#83: Jul 16th 2015 at 5:52:43 AM

There are mountains of ice. What that tells me is that the surface of Pluto (and other objects in the Kuiper belt) is constantly getting painted by ice in the system. See Iapetus.

Also, I see plenty of craters. They're just not huge. Because it's the Kuiper belt. Not every crater is like Mimas.

edited 16th Jul '15 5:56:43 AM by AnotherGuy

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#84: Jul 16th 2015 at 5:56:16 AM

Are Charon's tidal forces great enough to affect said ice?Would be amusing.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#85: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:00:27 AM

From NASA:

The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100 million years ago — mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today.

“This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” said Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Unlike the icy moons of giant planets, Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body. Some other process must be generating the mountainous landscape.

“This may cause us to rethink what powers geological activity on many other icy worlds,” says GGI deputy team leader John Spencer at Sw RI.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#87: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:05:03 AM

Isn't it obvious? The Old Ones keep it nice and clean.

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#88: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:10:33 AM

THE HEART IS BEATING.

Or something.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#89: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:22:36 AM

[up]Of course, duh. As soon as australopiths stated getting really serious with their grilling skills, the meetings and memos started. Pluto probably gets a regular scrubbing and resurfacing every 1 million years or so just to fox us. wink

Actually: I now have images of Kuiper belt swap meets and/or boot sales. "Hey, Sedna! Heard you were looking for some crystaline methane, girl! This occasional says he's got some if you can spare a little bog standard water in a glancing fly-by." [lol]

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#90: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:48:32 AM

Keep in mind, half the time Pluto is covered in a kilometer deep ice sheet (120 year winters).

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#91: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:55:12 AM

[up]Kind of noticed the deep-deep freeze and lukewarm sublimation cycle it probably goes through, yes. The thing is... we don't really know how the dynamics of that work, nor the effects on the deeper structures. More data pending. wink

However... geology is rarely just a case of top-down action. :/

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#93: Jul 16th 2015 at 4:53:47 PM

Are Charon's tidal forces great enough to affect said ice?Would be amusing.

Mutual tidal locking. There's no heating due to tidal friction.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#94: Jul 16th 2015 at 6:56:08 PM

From the NASA briefing, they showed a photograph of the Sun, then Venus, then...

"If you do not recognize the next photograph, you will have to leave the auditorium immediately. Security will escort you to Area 51."

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#97: Jul 18th 2015 at 8:03:56 AM

Maybe Pluto's orbit had some real close encounters 100 million years ago. tongue

SantosLHalper Since: Aug, 2009
#98: Jul 18th 2015 at 8:59:38 AM

Is it wrong that I want to name one of Pluto's features after Yuggoth? cool

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#99: Jul 18th 2015 at 10:05:14 AM

It'll be good company for Cthulhu.

edited 18th Jul '15 10:05:21 AM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#100: Jul 18th 2015 at 10:49:45 AM

Well, some Utusan Malaysia readers don't believe that New Horizons made it to Pluto.

Well, Utusan Malaysia readers can be compared to those who read the Daily Mail, although this applies to almost every Malay newspaper out there to some extent.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot

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