Alien Life On Pluto ? Dwarf Planet May Have A Hidden Ocean
The New Horizon space probe started its mission in January 2006 and arrived at Pluto in July 2015. After nine and half years & 4.7 billion miles in space, New horizon has finally started capturing breathtaking pictures of this giant planet and its moons.
The last unexplored world of the solar system always fascinates both space fans and scientists. The truth is Pluto is the place everyone knows so little about. The ninth planet of the solar system, which is also said to be a dwarf, even smaller than Mercury.
while orbiting , New Horizon has discovered a heart shaped region covered with ice. Scientists have named this region as Sputnik Planum. Researchers suspect that the area is created by the collision of several asteroids because Pluto is covered with a belt of asteroids. This asteroid belt is known as Kuiper region . According to research data, most of those asteroids containing icy rocks, so there must be a possibility of having a liquid ocean beneath this icy surface.
The principal investigator of New Horizon mission, Dr. Alan Stern said in a press conference that,"Who would have expected this kind of complexity?". He also stated that "I am a little biased, but I think the solar system saved the best for last."
Indeed, there is more thing to explore in Pluto. Although, the temperature of the Pluto is not suitable to remain water in liquid state. Almost 5 billion miles of distance from the sun makes pluto the coldest planet of solar system. It takes 250 Earth years to orbit the sun . Having a weird shape of orbit Pluto's equator region is colder than its polar regions. In its equator temperature hits -400° F, cold enough to freeze Nitrogen.
Research Data from New Horizon suggests that beneath those ice there is a huge amount of Ammonia mixed with water. Ammonia is a typical antifreeze material which keeps water syrupy liquid, even at the temperature of -145° F.
Although, life could not be sustained at this condition because Ammonia is so harmful to every living creatures. However, some kind of microorganisms in Earth fix nitrogen to ammonia. This Nitrification process is important for Making Proteins & DNA which are the basic building blocks of life.
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