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eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
Sun Feb 9, 2020, 01:31 PM Feb 2020

Pluto's icy heart makes winds blow (earthsky.org)

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Space | February 9, 2020

Wasn’t it wonderful when – after all the disappointment surrounding Pluto’s loss of major planet status in 2006 – the New Horizons spacecraft made its historic sweep past the planet in 2015 and discovered a big heart on its surface? Last week (February 4, 2020), scientists announced something new and interesting about Pluto’s heart, which is called Tombaugh Regio, and which is a vast plain on the planet covered with nitrogen ice. The new research shows that Pluto’s renowned nitrogen heart rules its atmospheric circulation. It causes Pluto’s winds to blow.

This new research was published February 4 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. This journal is published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). A statement from AGU explained:

During the day, a thin layer of [the nitrogen ice covering Tombaugh Regio] warms and turns into vapor. At night, the vapor condenses and once again forms ice. Each sequence is like a heartbeat, pumping nitrogen winds around the dwarf planet.

The new work suggests that this cycle pushes Pluto’s atmosphere to circulate in the opposite direction of its spin – a unique phenomenon called retro-rotation. As air whips close to the surface, it transports heat, grains of ice and haze particles to create dark wind streaks and plains across the north and northwestern regions of Tombaugh Regio. According to the study’s lead author, astrophysicist and planetary scientist Tanguy Bertrand of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California:

This highlights the fact that Pluto’s atmosphere and winds – even if the density of the atmosphere is very low – can impact the surface.

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more: https://earthsky.org/space/plutos-icy-heart-makes-winds-blow
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Pluto's icy heart makes winds blow (earthsky.org) (Original Post) eppur_se_muova Feb 2020 OP
K&R and thanks. nt tblue37 Feb 2020 #1
seems like if it has its own wind it oughta be considered a planet nt msongs Feb 2020 #2
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