Discovered evidence that the moon of Pluto, was the ancient ocean – Moskovsky Komsomolets

Subsequently, he froze.

Today at 13:02, views: 1159

by Studying the three-dimensional image of Charon — satellite of Pluto, discovered by astronomers in 1978, scientists came to the conclusion that in the depths of this cosmic body in the past was the ocean. To date, the processes supporting the ocean in a liquid state, it stopped, and he froze, say the experts from NASA and several American universities.

photo: pixabay.com

the Pictures, which managed to make a discovery was made research the New Horizons probe in 2015, when the space station flew past Pluto and its moons. Scientists have managed to combine color photos into three-dimensional images.

Evidence that in the past, Charon was the under-ice ocean, according to scientists, can serve as features of its relief — in particular, the longest network of canyons ever discovered on the planets and satellites of the Solar system. The depth of some of the canyons discovered the planetary is estimated at 4-5 kilometers. The network length exceeds 1,800 kilometers, and she could appear as a result of the freezing ice of the ocean, the researchers suggest.

Charon is covered with water ice, and, until recently, about the cracks on that ice was known to very few — pictures taken prior to New Horizons, were not allowed to see many of these cracks quite well. However, the new data allowed the experts to “recover” the story of a satellite of the dwarf planet. According to the researchers, in the past-Charon decayed radioactive elements, it warmed the planet from the inside and guarantees the existence of a sufficiently large subglacial ocean of liquid water. Subsequently, however, the decay process is ended, and the planet is completely frozen. It was then on its surface and there were lots of canyons, and then they remained “intact” as no more tectonic activity on the planet to be observed could not.

His research scientists published in the scientific journal Icarus.