Mind blown!

Remember when everybody thought Pluto was a cold, dead rock on the edge of our solar system?

I was just watching an episode of How the Universe Works on the Science Channel ("The Secret History of Pluto") when I learned that the New Horizons probe blew that assumption out of the water! (Pun not intended.)

The first thing -- that Pluto was geologically dead -- was proved wrong when we all saw the first images of Sputnik Planitia (the heart-shaped plain.) There are also cryo-volcanoes and liquid nitrogen glaciers.

Second, it's not really cold -- there is some sort of heat source that allows liquid nitrogen to exist. At first, this really shocked scientists, since Pluto isn't big enough to have a molten core, and it's too far away for sunlight to have any real impact. But, according to Wikipedia, they found an explanation:

Because the decay of radioactive elements would eventually heat the ices enough for the rock to separate from them, scientists expect that Pluto's internal structure is differentiated, with the rocky material having settled into a dense core surrounded by a mantle of water ice.

Oh, and, yeah, they also found liquid water that had been upwelling onto Sputnik Planitia. Which leads into one more big discovery: evidence of organic chemistry. You can see it whenever you look at New Horizon's color pictures (the brownish, reddish areas are believed to be "organic goo".) Now if the organic chemistry is able to percolate down to the water mantle, Pluto will join the ranks of Europa, Titan, and Enceladus as possibly having life. True, it's probably a slim chance, and it would be a very basic, simple life form, but it fits the equation:

heat + liquid water + organic chemistry = life?

If that's blown your mind, then take a few minutes to scrape it off the walls and ceiling!

Finished? Good. Now how many ways can that bit of news effect BotP storylines?

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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury

Science is awesome!

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Playing darts with the Condor's feather shuriken...

quote:

Originally posted by Redbird Science is awesome!

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.

Now I've got Monty Python's 'Galaxy Song' stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq4uCWtQE24

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If you see me talking to myself, just move along: we're having a team meeting.

Then there is the classics I grew up with that fans know the famous lines... "Beam me up Scotty..."

The narrator starts... "To boldly go... where no man has gone before..."Ahhh... Thats because her Star ship got there before his... Sorry Capt Kirk... try again. He wants a bigger planet, not a dwarf planet. Its all about size even in space.

Tribbles... my fave ep.

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.