Scientists Think Pluto Once Had Rivers and Lakes: Photos Show a Dynamic World
Imagine a world other than ours where there are lakes and rivers. Now that should be something worthy of tingling one's interest, right? While NASA, its legion of space experts, and amateur astronomers are going farther and farther in search for new worlds, it also can be fun when we hear something new about our close neighbors.
During a news conference held at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, scientists from NASA provided a much closer look at Pluto, the dwarf planet that was one declassified as a planet and was again named as one. Of all the new scientific findings presented, nothing was more remarkable than the possibility that the planet may have been home to flowing lakes and rivers. The space agency speculated that there actually might still be remnants of liquid nitrogen that's currently flowing underneath the surface.
Alan Stern, leader of the New Horizons team, said during the news conference (via Washington Post), that his team might have seen something like a "former lake." His team believes that the planet's mountainous terrain was formed by water ice that froze and became as hard as bedrock. It was then carved and shaped by flowing liquid nitrogen. They also contend that because of the extremely awkward seasons in Pluto, the conditions may still allow liquid nitrogen to remain in its state. The flat areas on the surface are most likely caused by still liquid but the grooves and rough terrain were made by the rivers of nitrogen. The drastic changes in the planet's climate allowed the frozen nitrogen underneath to thaw while some remain, covering the crust.
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The New Horizons spacecraft is already on its way past the planet but the data gathered by Stern and his team means one thing – that there is still a lot to learn and discover about this dwarf planet.
