The Kuiper Belt might be the “ make - out ” point of the Solar System , at least judging by Pluto ’s tumid love bite . Thecurious regionon the dwarf planet was spotted by NASA ’s New Horizon space vehicle in its flyby last July but only now have scientists managed to work out the origin of the rum formation .
Astronomers think that Piri Planitia , as the region is informally called , is undergoing a phase change . The methane sparkler on the surface is rarefy ( turn to gas ) , exposing a hard layer of piddle ice .
Pluto ’s average temperature on its surface is -229 ° C ( -380 ° F ) and it has a open press 100,000 times less than Earth . Under those conditions , water ice is as hard as rock and methane can only exist in two states , as a solid or as a gas .
The region of Piri Planitia seen in high - definition and in fake colors . The purpleness represent methane ice , while the blue is water ice basic principle . NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
Piri Planitia is surrounded to the west by a high plateau called the Vega Terra , and the two are differentiate by the Piri Rupes , a long wall of cliffs that extend for hundreds of kilometers . The drop are plenteous in methane , and the New Horizon squad has hypothesise that they form from the sublimation of the methane ice . As they eroded by , they form the Piri Planitia .
The region is very young , at least in geologic terms . Piri Planitia testify almost no sign of meteor impingement ( as can be see in the nearby Vega Terra realm ) , indicating that whatever cognitive operation has been shaping the region has either stopped very of late or is continue to the present day .
The same can be state about Tombaugh Regio , the spunk - shaped region that eclipse Pluto . Itssmoothnesshas perplexed astronomer since the first picture of Pluto arrived , and it is an denotation that the dwarf planet is somehow still geologically active . Dwarf planets are too small to preserve interior heat for long , but there ’s currently no alternative account for what ’s going on inside Pluto .
The New Horizon team is still working on the data from Pluto , which is lento being downloaded ( about 1 figure of speech every 42 bit ) and psychoanalyze by the team . Hopefully , more data point will help us understand how Piri Planitia formed .
The neighborhood of Piri Planitia in relation to the rest of the planet seen in high - definition and in fictive colors . The purple stand for methane ice , while the blueness is water methamphetamine hydrochloride basics . NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
