NASA’s 2015 New Horizons mission is responsible for images of the dwarf planet Pluto that have influenced much of what is known about our distant neighbor. The US space agency published a study this Thursday (30) in Nature Communications revealing new imaging findings that indicate the presence of icy volcanoes in the site’s geography.

On photos a field of ice volcanoes that may still be active. Such revelations point to the possibility that Pluto has a core with a temperature higher than scientists thought. The New Horizons spacecraft made a flyby of the dwarf planet – located in the Kuiper belt, Pluto lost its planet status in 2006 – 2015.

Image analysis reveals a rugged region on Pluto that is geographically very different from what is found in our solar system. “We found a field of very large icy volcanoes that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” said study author Kelsey Singer, a postdoctoral fellow at the Southwestern Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Despite the likelihood of activity and the conditions for the presence of water, Singer says that the body needs to overcome many difficulties in order to survive on Pluto.

ice volcanoes

Ice volcanoes seen on Pluto show no evidence of impact craters, and the discovered chain of volcanoes suggests recent activity with multiple eruptions. For this reason, it can be assumed that the interior of Pluto has more residual heat than scientists thought. “The appearance of these objects is very different from any volcanoes in the solar system,” commented Singer.

Although ice volcanoes are not unique to Pluto in the solar system, the researchers believe that the ejected material was a cloudy mixture of ice and water, and that the dwarf planet’s -200°C temperature quickly froze the water, turning the area into massive mountains. with irregular shapes that can be seen on the surface.

In addition, Pluto once had an underground ocean, as evidenced by geological finds at this site. The discovery of ice volcanoes that may still be active, combined with the possibility of higher-than-expected internal heat, raises questions about whether such an ocean still exists. The combination of these factors also increases the likelihood of the presence of living organisms on the site. However, Kelsey Singer stressed that there are still many challenges that an organism needs to overcome in order to survive on Pluto.

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Source: CNN Brasil, NASA.